Quote:
Originally Posted by Mtxzptlk
Two words:
Respect
Money
Good on you Danny Ric.
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I'd say this really sums up the biggest reasons why Danni Ricci made the jump.
It's obvious that Max is RB's favored driver (although you wouldn't know it by how Danni and Max pal around).
When it comes to money IIRC Max is the 3rd highest paid driver in F1 ... I can't imagine they would even come close to giving Danni a bit payout to keep him. IMHO when it was clear that neither Merc nor Ferrari were going to pen a deal ... Marko gave Danni a low-ball take it or leave it offer, thinking they had him on the ropes ... and Danni decided to leave it.
I'd say 3rd was the opportunity to be on a Factory Team. I'm sure Danni will have much more direct input regarding the car. And with being on a Factory Team, testing is a much quicker process. Then there's the plain and simple fact that RS has as much money to sink into F1 as it wants. Also when you look at history, RS generally becomes the team to beat at some point. When one looks at RS's progression these past couple of seasons, it's hard not to imagine what next season will bring. Heck, RS is already making moves to get the right people in place by signing Merc's power-train designer Matthew Harman.
Finally I'd say that 4th is the continued questioning of the Honda power-train. I'm not sure how much testing Danni and Max have done in the Toro Rosso cars, but I can definitely see Danni not wanting to take the chance of RB faltering due to Honda's power-train.
And if you want to believe scuttlebutt ... RB was said to be inching that much closer to being, basically, a Factory Team Sponsor. And already has ties with Honda in Rally Cross; as well as World Superbike series. So with that, it's not too big a stretch to think that certain "favors" were cashed in amidst RB's very public issues with Renault; making RB move to Honda, even with it's lackluster performance thus far.