Backfire: Top F1 free agent’s move flops

Testing as a free agency formula 1 Driver can be a risky business. with With so few seats available and even fewer capable of challenging for victoryThe choice between seats often appears to be a stab in the dark based on confidence in the leaders and the underlying ability of the team, leading many championship-worthy drivers to waste precious years behind the wheel of an uncompetitive car.

With the 2024 season done and dusted, and the free agency market all but over before 2025, there’s no better time to take a trip down memory lane and reflect on some of the biggest mistakes in recent memory.

5. Valtteri Bottas – Sauber from Mercedes

After beginning his career with a four-year stint at Williams, valtteri bottas was brought by mercedes To replace the retired reigning world champion nico rosberg For 2017. together with Lewis Hamilton For the next five years, the two formed a far more harmonious partnership than the Briton had experienced with Rosberg.

Mercedes’ Constructors’ Championship dominance continued during Bottas’ time with the team, taking the title during each of his five seasons, while Hamilton won the World Drivers’ Championship four times.

Bottas overtook Hamilton and won three races during the 2017 season to finish third in the championship. Although he failed to win a race the following year, Bottas made his way to the podium on a consistent basis. And the hits kept coming, finishing second in the championship in both 2019 and 2020, and third in 2021, winning another seven races in the process.

But with the British young man george russell Waiting for the opportunity, Mercedes opted to replace Bottas for the 2022 season. The free agent Finn eventually landed with the then-Alfa Romeo team led by Fred Vasseur. Bottas’ first season with the team was good, if not remarkable, finishing in the top 10 on nine occasions and failing to reach the podium. Vasseur’s subsequent departure sent the team into a spiral, with Bottas being able to finish in the top 10 only three times the following season, but failing to score a single point in his final year with the renamed Kick-Sauber team. .

Team acquisition by AudiIt was targeted for completion by 2026, which was the final nail in the coffin of Bottas’ tenure. The German manufacturer is opting to go with a new lineupReflecting on his time with the team following the season finale in Abu Dhabi, Bottas described his move to Sauber as “a mistake”.

4. Daniel Ricciardo – From Renault to McLaren

After two largely disappointing seasons with Renault, Daniel Ricciardo hit free agency once again in 2021, signing a blockbuster three-year deal with the Woking-based team, where he will join forces with rising star Lando Norris. Will partner.

Following Carlos Sainz’s departure to Ferrari, the Honey Badger had big shoes to fill. Sainz was instrumental in McLaren’s resurgence as a reliable top-10 team, following a three-year Honda partnership.

The Australian’s first year with McLaren proved to have mixed results. Ricciardo, who got the better of Norris, reaching the podium on four occasions, took the team’s first victory since 2012 during a memorable race at Monza. Things really got worse for Ricciardo in 2022, when Norris completely outclassed him, only finishing in the top 10 on seven occasions, while his teammate achieved a total of seven podium finishes.

Ricciardo’s decline was a difficult one, as the once charismatic and much-loved driver seemed to be on the wane, his confidence eroding day by day. In the end, McLaren released him a year early, with the team paying him $18 million to drop him in favor of a rookie. oscar piastri,

3. Fernando Alonso – From Ferrari to McLaren

After leaving Ferrari in 2015, after 13 seasons and two world titles to his name, Alonso was looking for a new team to call home. Meanwhile, McLaren entered the season intent on rekindling some of the old romance with hopes of returning to the battle with the top teams. The Papaya outfit signed an engine partnership with Honda, with whom they had had much success in the 1980s and 1990s, and brought back a very familiar face in Alonso – leaving the Spaniard under a cloud of smoke in 2008. Despite.

Alonso signed a three-year deal with McLaren, partnering another World Championship winner, Jenson Button. However, this move quickly backfired, and the Honda power unit proved miles behind the pace and unreliable.

Over the next three years, Alonso finished only 39 races, finishing in the top 10 only 16 times, and never failing to finish higher than fifth. In 2018, McLaren switched to Renault power units, which began to slowly bring the team back to the top. Alonso finished in the top half of the grid nine times, in the process outperforming then-teammate Stoffel Vandoorne.

The following year, Alonso took a step away from racing and worked as an ambassador for McLaren before returning to the grid the following season when he joined Alpine.

2. Daniel Ricciardo – from Red Bull to Renault

Unfortunately for Ricciardo, his move to McLaren was not the only questionable move in his career.

A graduate of the Red Bull Junior programme, he made a name for himself with the senior team from 2014 to 2018. Initially teammates with four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel, Ricciardo replaced fellow countryman Mark Webber in this role and proved equally effective. The task of challenging the Germans to victory.

Seven wins, 29 podiums and two third-place Drivers’ Championship standings finishes followed for Ricciardo, who spent most of his time with the team alongside four-time world champion Max Verstappen. A more capable matchup for Verstappen and Vettel on a good day, with Red Bull intent on retaining Ricciardo as the 2019 season approaches. However, the Australian decided to take her talents elsewhere, giving up the role of bridesmaid and becoming the bride for Renault alongside Nico Hulkenberg.

But as Red Bull went from strength to strength, Ricciardo was forced to watch from a distance. In his first season with Renault, he finished in the top five only once, while the French team finished fifth in the Constructors’ Championship. Things improved slightly in 2020, with Ricciardo finishing in the top 5 seven times, including two third places. Renault again finished fifth overall.

With the power of hindsight, Ricciardo’s decision to part ways with Red Bull for Renault ultimately marked the beginning of his slow decline as he slipped even further away from what could have been for the undoubtedly talented driver.

1. Fernando Alonso – From Renault to McLaren

Another familiar name, Alonso joined McLaren as back-to-back world champions in 2007. He was partnered with an impressive rookie named Lewis Hamilton. Hardly a match made in heaven, this team dynamic lasted just one season before the plug was removed.

Alonso and Hamilton were brought in to replace Kimi Räikkönen and Pedro de la Rosa. However, any perceived pecking order quickly vanished as Alonso and Hamilton battled fiercely for victory week after week.

According to the BBC, things got worse for team boss Ron Dennis and McLaren in Hungary when Alonso reportedly “threatened to hand over incriminating e-mails to his own team” in relation to the “Spygate” saga.

Alonso subsequently returned to Renault for two seasons before moving to Ferrari. Meanwhile, Hamilton won the 2008 title with McLaren.