Red Bull is supposed to be the master of marketing, using the media to its advantage but the Austrian drinks company’s driver announcement for 2014 at 21.30 at night European time is a masterpiece is getting it all wrong for those with deadlines. Perhaps the timing works in the US, but as yet F1 is still not big over there. This means that the announcement will miss most of the Tuesday newspapers and while there might be some coverage on Wednesday it will by then be old, old news. In Australia, where Ricciardo hails from, it is the small hours of the morning. Who knows the thinking that has been going on… if indeed any has been.

The news is that Daniel Ricciardo will join Sebastian Vettel on a multi-year deal with Infiniti Red Bull Racing.

“I feel very, very good at the moment and obviously there’s a lot of excitement running through me,” Ricciardo. “Since joining F1 in 2011, I hoped this would happen and over time the belief in me has grown; I had some good results and Red Bull has decided that this is it, so it’s a good time. Next year I’ll be with a Championship-winning team, arguably the best team, and will be expected to deliver. I’m ready for that. I’m not here to run around in 10th place.”

So much for stories of Kimi Raikkonen, Fernando Alonso or Ricciardo having hips that are too large for the car.

Christian Horner says that the choice is logical but the results of the last two years clearly suggest that this is not the case, as in 2012 and thus far in 2013 Ricciardo’s team-mate at Scuderia Toro Rosso, Jean-Eric Vergne, has outscored Ricciardo, despite being less experienced. One can try to construct an argument based on luck, or on the fact that Daniel qualifies better than JEV, but the only logic that fits for some is that Ricciardo will be less of a threat to Vettel than Vergne and the Austrian company is saving Jean-Eric for the future when Vettel departs…

If that is not the explanation then the logic is as clear as mud – a bit like the timing of the press release.