5 Times F1 Drivers Shocked The World By Switching Teams

F1 drivers don't always behave rationally, whether it's on the track or off it. We've rounded up five recent occasions when F1's driver changes left the world wondering what the hell was happening
5 Times F1 Drivers Shocked The World By Switching Teams

The news that Daniel Ricciardo has chosen to leave Red Bull, a team that has nailed down a solid third place or better in the championship for the last four seasons in favour of one of the outfits scrapping for a distant fourth was totally unexpected. It’s pretty rare for a top driver to leave a race-winning team for a mid-table outfit by choice.

From some angles the move makes sense; he’ll be a number one driver at Renault, whoever he partners, and he’s banking on Renault’s growth and potential outstripping the apparent stagnation at Red Bull – as well as escaping that team’s fairly obvious preference for its highly-paid young star Max Verstappen. But which other driver switches left us speechless?

The big one of recent times was, without a doubt, the 2008 World Champion’s decision to move from the team with which he won his title (and narrowly missed out on a couple more), McLaren, to the reborn – and fairly hopeless – Mercedes outfit that couldn’t hope, people said, to match the front-running McLarens and Red Bulls.

The apparent step backwards was temporary. In his third race for Mercedes he stuck the car on pole position, but then struggled for a few races and the vultures of punditry began to circle, criticising the Stevenage-born man’s decision to leave McLaren. He did win in Hungary that year, though, before beginning the new 1.6-litre, turbocharged era in by far the best car and sweeping to two consecutive world titles. McLaren, meanwhile… well, the less said about them, the better.

Actually, what the hell. Let’s go there. Fernando Alonso’s move from the just-not-quite-competitive Ferrari at the end of the 2014 season took everyone by surprise and ended a relationship with the team that had gone sour over Alonso’s refusal to stop criticising the car’s lack of pace. Annoyingly for the Spaniard, his departure seemed to galvanise the Italian team, which improved its next car and started picking up better results the following season.

Alonso’s move to McLaren was pivotal for the then-new McLaren-Honda partnership, bringing a crucial star name to the table with salary demands to match. But McLaren had been sliding down the field ever since Lewis Hamilton left and the hugely risky move was a surprise to most casual observers. Unlike Hamilton’s, it didn’t pay off. It still hasn’t.

Sebastian Vettel to Ferrari

5 Times F1 Drivers Shocked The World By Switching Teams

Sebastian Vettel had won four driver’s world championships on the bounce from 2010 to 2013, and was an absolute beast in the final years of the 2.4-litre V8 era. Although two of those championships had ultimately been closely contested, the Red Bull was clearly the fastest car.

That made his decision to jump ship after just one year of disappointment in 2014, where new teammate Daniel Ricciardo outscored him by some 71 points and two championship positions, even more surprising. Although he hadn’t made this ambition public while at Red Bull, he went to Ferrari to fulfil his childhood dream of driving for Ferrari and emulating his hero Michael Schumacher.

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Red Bull has a policy of promoting drivers with actual F1 experience, gained as part of the Toro Rosso team, to the flagship Red Bull Racing outfit. Daniil Kvyat was one such lucky pup, brought in to replace Sebastian Vettel after the German moved to Ferrari for the 2015 season in the wake of the departed Alonso.

But it was his shocking and horribly embarrassing demotion back to Toro Rosso in 2016, ironically after a run of poor drives and mistakes culminated in him crashing into Vettel’s Ferrari (twice) on the opening lap of the Russian Grand Prix and putting the German out of the race. Back to the junior team he went, and you could almost feel the entire F1 world cringing. Kvyat never recovered and was replaced even at Toro Rosso, although he’s now a behind-the-scenes development driver… at Ferrari.

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Max Verstappen’s promotion to the senior Red Bull team had come too soon, everyone said at the time. When Kvyat was bumped down to Toro Rosso it was a straight switch, with Verstappen going the other way after four races of the season had already passed. He was just 18 at the time and had spent a single – albeit promising – season at Toro Rosso in 2015.

The move to promote such a youngster raised a lot of eyebrows around the paddock. Would he be able to adapt to the faster car? Would has relative lack of experience tell? Would he be just as volatile and crash-prone as Kvyat had been? The doubters were quickly silenced, although to this day Verstappen still maintains a reputation for taking one risk too many, much like a young Lewis Hamilton at McLaren. It’s probably why they’re both so popular.

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Comments

LEitner

I still love how people went “hamilton won’t be able to win in a mercedes” back then 😅

08/03/2018 - 14:22 |
0 | 0
FLixy Madfox

In reply to by LEitner

Fun fact about him.
So far he’s the only driver to have won a race in every season he’s entered

08/03/2018 - 14:50 |
2 | 0
Duggan (koalafan) (koalafan7) (Esprit Team) (Z32 Group) (Lot

I never knew of any of these bc America just isn’t good enough for F1. But jokes on you we made you F1 into complicated nascars

08/03/2018 - 14:32 |
6 | 6

America isnt good enough for F1… There’s a thing called the internet… Plus, F1 races have been streamed live for years!

08/03/2018 - 14:43 |
8 | 0
675LT_ftw

Danny Ric moves to Renault
The internet rn be like…

08/03/2018 - 14:51 |
116 | 0
Anonymous

Never forget Hill going from Williams to Arrows

08/03/2018 - 15:01 |
28 | 0
Anonymous

Boiiiiii,wow

08/03/2018 - 15:02 |
0 | 4
Anonymous

Kvyat has experience, and is a good driver. He deserves a spot.

08/03/2018 - 15:45 |
4 | 0
5:19.55

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

He won’t with the youngsters currently in f2. His best move is either to find a good seat for the incoming gt1 wec championship or to try is luck in America in the indycar serie

08/03/2018 - 20:24 |
0 | 6
Anonymous

I still feel bad for Kvyat, the demotion was extremely unfair and he deserved atleast the 2016 season with RB, he was talented but the demotions broke his confidence and he struggled. I hope he gets another chance in the future

08/03/2018 - 16:22 |
16 | 0
5:19.55

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

Verstappen proved to be better and bring more result. If teams can have better in f1, they’ll happily go for it. And since he lost his confidence, it’s also indicate that he forgot why he was there.

08/03/2018 - 20:22 |
4 | 4
DL🏁

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

I agree, he had the skills, just not the support and the attitude sometimes. Maybe we’ll see him back - e.g. in Sauber?

08/04/2018 - 06:31 |
4 | 0
Anonymous

I was also quite (negatively) surprised when Schumacher left championship-winning Benetton for a struggling Ferrari back in ‘96. I was like - what, why? But it turned out rather well :)

08/04/2018 - 00:50 |
0 | 0
Kyle Ashdown

I’m placing a bet here—when Red Bull uses Honda power, we’ll all look back and say this was a good move for Danny Ric.

08/04/2018 - 03:56 |
14 | 0

Smh

08/05/2018 - 13:05 |
0 | 0