The Austrian outfit were looking to repeat their past glory days without the help of Sebastian Vettel, but with a new driver in the form of young Russian, Daniil Kvyat.
The team unveiled their 2015 car, the RB11, in Jerez testing with a camouflage livery, before switching to a familiar look in time for the season opener. As with last year, there were reliability concerns, and in Australia Kvyat stopped on his way to the grid with a gearbox failure in his first race weekend with the team. Daniel Ricciardo finished the opener in 6th place, in a race with 11 finishers – beaten by a Sauber.
Both Bulls finished in Malaysia, however the Renault power unit was under heavy criticism: Team principal, Horner, said the car was “undrivable”, “100 horsepower down on the Mercedes” and said the power they could run was limited by how hot of a day it was. Despite this, the team has scored points in every race so far with just 3 retirements in total.
It was suspected that the team had one of the best chassis, and with a competitive engine they would be fighting for wins. This was all but confirmed in Monaco when the team finished 4th and 5th. Daniil said, “It was a great race for the team” after starting 2015 fighting for the small points.
After Monaco came the series of high-speed, low-downforce circuits of Canada and Austria. Red Bull found just 3 points over the two races. The rain at Silverstone helped Daniil Kvyat storm to P6, with the Russian lapping 2 seconds faster than anyone else on the final lap.
Red Bull ended the first half of the season on a high in Hungary. The Bulls, in particular, benefitted from an error-strewn race up front. An outstanding result of 2nd and 3rd secured both drivers their first podiums of the year – Kvyat ahead of Ricciardo. Ricciardo was even within a chance of the win before making contact with Nico Rosberg.
Daniel Ricciardo: 51 Points – 7th in the Drivers’ Championship
Daniel is visibly disheartened with his season so far. He had to smile through some tough post-race interviews and was disappointed not to do even better than 3rd in Hungary, as a win was once on the cards.
The Australian has said, “I will not continue for another season with the current Renault engine.” amid his frustrations with Renault, however acknowledges that the power unit doesn’t take full responsibility for the lack of pace compared to what we’ve come to expect from Red Bull in the previous 6 years. Daniel has also ruled himself out of a move to Ferrari in 2016.
Some of the smile is missing, but his determination and “honey-badger” attitude is ever evident.
He leads his teammate by 6 points in the standings but has had fewer retirements. Daniel finished ahead of Daniil Kvyat 4 times out of the first 5 races, but only once in the next 5. Ricciardo has qualified ahead on 6 occasions.
Daniil Kvyat: 45 Points – 8th in the Drivers’ Championship
Replacing a four-time world champion is a tough ask for a driver in their 2nd season. After 10 races in 2015, the Russian lies behind Ricciardo in the standings, separated by 6 points.
After a troubled start with retirements in Australia, China and a Q1 issue in Bahrain, Kvyat has not only held his own against his highly-respected teammate, but also beat him on 4 of the 7 races where both cars finished.
Team principal, Christian Horner, has voiced praise for the Russian, and is 100% sure that Daniil will remain with the team in 2016.
The relationship between the two drivers is also improved from last year, with public team orders in Monaco and Hungary, favouring opposite driver in turn, followed without second ask.
