MOTORSPORT: Ricciardo needs a miracle in Montreal

Australians should not expect to wake on Monday morning to the news that Daniel Ricciardo has won again in Formula 1 in Canada.

Although the carsales.com.au global ambassador is hoping to avoid a 10-place grid penalty, it appears to be wishful thinking that Red Bull Racing can revert to the original kinetic energy recovery system from his RB14 after the one that notoriously failed yet could not stop him winning in Monaco two weeks ago.

Ricciardo will start with the original MGU-K in practice tonight, Australian time, in Montreal, but in all likelihood will have to install a third one before the race.

Red Bull’s genius designer Adrian Newey said early this week that the one that failed in Monaco was “a burnt-out, charred wreck” and that the team would “definitely be taking some penalties in Montreal” for going to a third one.

Ricciardo has since said he hopes the one he first used this season is still useable, but on this we ought take the word of the engineer – even if he is primarily an aerodynamicist, with no direct involvement in engine supplier Renault’s program – rather than the driver.

Ricciardo rather fancies his chances on Montreal’s temporary circuit, somewhat like Melbourne’s Albert Park, and would prefer any penalties from installing a new MGU-K – which recovers energy from braking – to come at the next round of the world championship, the revised French Grand Prix at Paul Ricard on June 22-24.

“We’ve got good momentum right now and Montreal’s a circuit where it’s tricky to overtake, so you don’t want to be starting 10th or 15th or somewhere down there,” Ricciardo said.

“We’ll try to survive this weekend. We’re hoping that what we start with [in practice] will run all weekend, and if that’s the case then no penalties.

“I would much rather take the penalties elsewhere.”

While the first of Ricciardo’s seven F1 wins came in Montreal in 2014, Lewis Hamilton has won there six times in 11 years, always with Mercedes power (the past three years for the German manufacturer’s team, but previously in McLaren cars) and is looking to equal Michael Schumacher’s record seven Canadian victories.

The reigning world champion leads the points again this season with 110 from Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel on 96 and Ricciardo – with two wins like both the drivers ahead of him – on 72.

Mercedes team chairman Niki Lauda stirred the pot this week in saying that out-of-contract Ricciardo was trying to ‘blackmail’ Red Bull by not signing a contract until Hamilton’s new deal is confirmed.

Lauda said Mercedes had not made an offer to Ricciardo, who Red Bull motorsport consultant Helmut Marko told him may simply be delaying a decision on his future until he knows what engine Red Bull will use next year. It is to decide between continuing with Renault or switching to Honda power by early next month.

The best choice for Ricciardo would be Ferrari, where Kimi Raikkonen’s time is almost up. Our Dan is much better prepared for the Italian team than its protégé at Sauber, Charles Leclerc, is to partner Vettel, although the German four-time world champion may resist Ricciardo being recruited after having been outshone by him in 2014.

Ricciardo’s teammate for now, Max Verstappen, is threatening to headbutt F1 correspondents who repeatedly say he needs to change his ways after his string of costly mistakes this year.

And Red Bull junior team Toro Rosso unsuccessfully tried this week to replace its New Zealand driver, Brendon Hartley, with British youngster Lando Norris but McLaren, which has the Formula 2 championship leader under contract, refused to ‘loan’ him.

Power, Price, Formula E, WRC and World RX too

Lots of other major motorsport this weekend – IndyCar in the US, the Finke Desert Race in central Australia, racing returns to Switzerland after more than 60 years, there’s a World Rally Championship round on the Italian island of Sardinia and a World Rallycross Championship event in Norway.

Australia’s Will Power is favourite for the IndyCar round at Texas Motor Speedway, at which temperatures are forecast to be sweltering.

Indianapolis newspaper IndyStar’s Jim Ayello points out that Power “has absolutely dominated on superspeedways latterly, winning four of the past five races on big ovals” – including last month’s Indianapolis 500.

“Not only has he been nearly untouchable on superspeedways, he’s also been terrific at Texas,” Ayello says.

“In 10 career starts [in Texas], he’s poled three times and never qualified outside the top 10. He has four career podiums, including two wins (2011, 2017) and has finished outside the top eight only once since 2011.

“Of course, Power also boasts Chevrolet power, which is the engine manufacturer of choice for speedways this year.”

At the Finke Desert Race, Australia’s Dakar hero Toby Price will be trying to be the first competitor to win both the motorcycle and four-wheel events on the same weekend.

He’s won on motorcycles five times before and was runner-up in the four-wheel division two years ago.

To ‘do the double’ he will not only need to race almost 1000km, in four legs between Alice Springs and Aputula on Sunday and Monday, beating the two-wheel field but also in his trophy truck the best opposition on four wheels, especially Victorian five-time winners Shannon and Ian Rentsch.

The electric open-wheeler series, Formula E, will race on Sunday in Zurich, marking the first closed-circuit motorsport event in Switzerland since the country’s government banned racing after the 1955 disaster at Le Mans in France, where more than 80 spectators died.

Only hillclimbs have been allowed in Switzerland since then.

Swiss driver Sebastien Buemi has been the most successful in Formula E in its almost four completed seasons with 12 wins – although none in the past year.

Series chief Alejandro Agag predicts a crowd of 100,000 for the event on the shores of Lake Zurich and says that going to Switzerland “is a great symbol of how Formula E is changing things”.

“Switzerland has so much potential and so many companies that can support motorsport,” Agag said.

Heavy rain has been forecast for Sardinia, where Hyundai and its Belgian star Thierry Neuville – as leaders of the WRC’s manufacturer and driver standings – will lead the field on narrow gravel roads, ahead of the world champion of the past five years, Frenchman Sebastian Ogier in his Ford Fiesta, and Estonian Ott Tanak in a Toyota Yaris.

Citroen, fourth of the manufacturers and which recently sacked its Northern Irishman Kris Meeke for crashing too much, has vowed that it remains committed to the WRC for next season.

The French make hasn’t won a championship since Sebastien Loeb’s retirement from full-time rallying after his ninth straight world title in 2012.

The venue for World RX in Norway is a place called Hell. Among the 22 entries in the main class, called Supercars, is debutant Alex Wurz, the Austrian ex-F1 driver and 24 Hours of Le Mans winner.

“I grew up on rallycross tracks as my dad is a three-time European champion and I’ve always loved the sport,” Wurz said.

“I’m not one to shy away from a challenge, so I thought where better than Hell to throw myself into the deep end with the big World RX dogs.”

Sweden’s reigning World RX champion Johan Kristoffersson leads this year’s standings after three wins from four events for Norwegian Petter Solberg’s Volkswagen team.

Kristoffersson has a 14-point advantage over Peugeot’s Sebastien Loeb while third-placed Norwegian Andreas Bakkerud, driving for Swede Mattias Ekstrom’s Audi team, makes it three manufacturers in the top three.