Max Verstappen, Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull, Bahrain, 2018

Ricciardo “a very good teacher” for Verstappen – Horner

2018 Monaco Grand Prix

Posted on

| Written by and

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner says Max Verstappen can learn from his team mate the importance of learning from mistakes.

Verstappen has been involved in eight incidents in six race weekends so far this year. The most recent, his crash during final practice in Monaco, meant he had to start from the back of the grid.

Asked if Verstappen is able to learn from his mistakes, Horner said his driver should look at the example set by Daniel Ricciardo.

“I think he has a very good teacher in the car next door to him,” said Horner. “Max has an abundance of talent and had some harsh lessons this year and I think a modified approach will benefit him.”

Horner believes Verstappen is frustrated by his failure to capitalise on the potential he has shown so far this year.

“We talk weekly, he’ll be in the factory this week. Of course what frustrates him is that he’s working harder than ever, feels fitter than ever and it feels like he’s just trying a bit too hard at the moment.

“Of course, when you get into a spiral and try harder I think you just need to hit the reset button.”

Verstappen recovered to finish ninth following his setback on Saturday. “Max had a better Sunday than he had Saturday,” said Horner.

“I think starting from last on the grid, expectations in Monaco have to be low. All weekend in all formulas there has been very little overtaking, but he made some good passes in the race, the strategy worked well for him and we thought if he could get in the points by the end of the race that would be a good result.

“Ninth was a good drive from him and he needs to go away from this race and reflect on what should have been and apply that for the future.”

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

2018 F1 season

Browse all 2018 F1 season articles

84 comments on “Ricciardo “a very good teacher” for Verstappen – Horner”

  1. Pretty much sums it up. I’m sure Max would like to avoid feeling like he must have felt once they found that oil leak in the tranny on Saturday before quali.

  2. I don’t think Max has the capacity to learn from mistakes.

    He’d been told for too long, since he was way too young, that he is the best thing since sliced bread. There is no capacity there to admit to mistakes.

    He is good in many way, and he will likely improve in those aspects, but he will not improve in those where he would first have to admit to himself that he was going the wrong way about it.

    1. He admitted two of eight mistakes, that’s a start…

      1. Not all the incident were “mistakes” that’s the problem now with the media.
        He did some stupid things, but his capacity for learning will show.

        1. Sorry man.. all 8 mistakes so far were of his own doing.
          Aus – He spun on his own
          Bah – He crashed on quail on his own, then caused contact with Lewis on his own doing
          Chi – His own fluff up for going off track while battling Lewis, then later hitting Seb
          Aze – His own movement in the braking area caused the crash
          Spa – His own carelessness behind Stroll under the VSC broke part of his front wing
          Mon – His own mistake in FP3 prevented him form taking part in qualifying

          I have to agree with @ruliemaulana . He’s only admitted to two of them.. so he’s got a long way to go.

          1. You are forgetting the time he crashed his teammate on 1st lap of race, cut the corner and purposefully drove slowly to push other into the another car behind, used dirty defensive method at one of longest straight of calendar nearly causing massive crash at 300+kmph and used dirty defensive driving in such a way that the faster car clipped the front wing trying to avoid a larger collision.

          2. Todfod, Though you have a point it also lack’s any reference and is your personal opinion, not based on objective facts.

            Aus – He spun on his own > correct, but it was led in by a damaged floorboard, there are no reasons to assume max was at fault for the damaged floor, in fact this happened during the winter tests as well.

            Bah – He crashed on quail on his own, > RBR confirmed the enginemapping was not good, Max crashed during a configurationlap cause the car did not respond correctly. This problems also occured during FP at Bahrain.
            Bah – then caused contact with Lewis on his own doing > opinion, FIA felt both where to blame, the way I see it was Lewis steering in when he was already overtaken, fact remains 50% shared guilt

            Chi – His own fluff up for going off track while battling Lewis > no harm done there, a good attempt that did not succeed while other atteampt did succeed (overtake of the year award 3 years in a row)
            Chi – then later hitting Seb . Verstappen first avoidable error which cost him the victory

            Aze – His own movement in the braking area caused the crash > again, your opinion, official reading is both share the blame

            Spa – His own carelessness behind Stroll under the VSC broke part of his front wing > true, but then again date showed Stroll was actually slowing down 5 sec (!!) during VSC, guess Verstappen did not expect Stroll to fall asleep… in the end no harm done there as well (nitpicking)

            Mon – His own mistake in FP3 prevented him form taking part in qualifying > True again, though Verstappen is responsable for the crash it was remarkable the team could not repair his car in time while they changed over a complete engine for Ricciardo after FP3 in China. This fact made the drama in Monaco much bigger than needed.

            In reference Ricciardo has 5 incidents so far this season:
            Aus – ignoring red flag, 3 position gridpenaltu
            Bak – crash with Verstappen
            Esp – crash in FP1, spinning after SC, spinning during VSC

            Add a mechanical DNF at Bahrain and you could consider both team and drivers didn’t have flawless season so far

          3. Keep on making up your own orange reality Matn. Feels good doesn’t it? Writing off all that negativity.
            Astonishing, the mind-bending capabilities of the orange MV Fboys’ brain when confronted with undesired outcomes of events, prompting them to rewrite racing history, every single time. Unbelievable, as usual, making whatever stuff up to back their belief, while dismissing, criticising, and leaving out actual facts, opinions, context, etc whenever it doesn’t suit their purpose.

          4. @Matn Good counter to the list created by @todfod however…

            I see the reality lying somewhere in between one post that tries to discredit Max for every incident, and yours that tries to take the blame off him for most of them.

            The bottom line for me is that Max is certainly not thinking about this list of ‘offences’ like he is guilty on all counts and like because he has allegedly only admitted to two of them he has a long way to go. Nobody knows more than Max what he has done and what he needs to do going forward, but he is certainly not going to dwell on what is done and can’t be changed, so I wouldn’t be holding my breath for further ‘admissions’ that the posters above think they should hear. On several of them I’m sure he would say he was just trying to race an underpowered car toward the front knowing how disadvantaged they are on long straights. Overdriving? Overreaching? Sure. Probably. It’s not their Championships to lose this year.

            It’s water under the bridge except for the sting Max will be feeling, which is for him to deal with as to how he will proceed. And where he left off but for hitting the same Armco DR rubbed in practice too, was that he was neck and neck with DR in Monaco pace-wise and could have poled and won it just as much as DR did, albeit with both in the mix it would have been quite something to see and certainly would have made DR’s day a lot harder than it already was. Max just has to ‘calm down’ as Massa put it, and decide how much more he wants to hand DR knowing that DR will capitalize.

          5. These days it hard to read through crappy post like KRXX, they only want to see flaws and highlight them to make a bit story out of thin air.. what did I actully made up anyways…?

            Robbie’s post is balanced… I am not trying to take the blame off Verstappen, I was ready to eat my shoe out of frustration after FP3, an undiniable poor timed mistake, though I publicly blaming Verstappen over Bahrain and Baku is just wanted to see a driver fail and put the blame on him for the cause of wanting to put the blame on someone.

            Usually it’s a thin line betwene hero or zero, the best overtakes are usually the trickiest once as well.

          6. How could the contact with Vettel cost him the victory if at this point Ricciardo was already ahead?

          7. Matn:

            Seems your post is lacking “facts” too

            but it was led in by a damaged floorboard, there are no reasons to assume max was at fault for the damaged floor

            Well since Max himself ruled out anyone else causing it then by a process of elimination it had to be Max. At the very least your assertion that there is no reason to assume max was at fault is disingenuous at best.

            Bah – He crashed on quail on his own, > RBR confirmed the enginemapping was not good

            That’s not true though. Christian Horner comfirmed there was nothing wrong with Verstappen’s car or engine (“Red Bull admits ‘foot oscillation’ caused Verstappen Bahrain crash” https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/135371/verstappen-right-foot-caused-bahrain-crash)

            Bah – then caused contact with Lewis on his own doing > opinion, FIA felt both where to blame, the way I see it was Lewis steering in when he was already overtaken, fact remains 50% shared guilt

            Link to this FIA investigation? Because I can’t find it and the only reference I can find is from an article on this site quoting Charlie Whiting as saying the incident wasn’t investigated.
            Regardless just because both drivers were to blame doesn’t automatically mean its 50/50 and it can certainly be argued that Hamilton had earned the right to a bit more space given he was ahead in the corner

            https://d2d0b2rxqzh1q5.cloudfront.net/sv/1.67/dir/a66/image/a66c3907d62bea9d65f89828dff75272.jpg

            Verstappen only pulled significantly ahead because Hamilton backed out. Verstappen could have made that overtake without sustaining damage but he wanted to run Hamilton out of road and it cost him finishing the race.

            Chi – His own fluff up for going off track while battling Lewis > no harm done there

            Apart from letting his team mate past when he had no hope of overtaking Hamilton around the outside of that corner.

            then later hitting Seb . Verstappen first avoidable error which cost him the victory

            Yeah I think many people disagree on that being the first (see above ^ )

            Aze – His own movement in the braking area caused the crash > again, your opinion, official reading is both share the blame

            He moved back to the inside to block when we wasn’t allowed to. Again even if both drivers are to blame Verstappen by far takes the majority of it.

            His own carelessness behind Stroll under the VSC broke part of his front wing > true

            Exactly, the rest of your section is immaterial.

            Mon – His own mistake in FP3 prevented him form taking part in qualifying > True again

            Exactly, again the rest of your section is immaterial, though I do find it amusing that you somehow try to paint the team at fault for not fixing Verstappens needless crashed car quick enough.

            Add a mechanical DNF at Bahrain and you could consider both team and drivers didn’t have flawless season so far

            Irrelevant, also you absolutely cannot blame the team for Verstappen’s retirement in Bahrain (which is what it sounds like).

          8. Crappy posts? Hhh. Do enlighten us why is it “crappy” and why is it that “These days it hard to read through”. I will tell you why it bothers you so much. It’s bc it’s a fact, you know it and you can’t handle it. Your, and other oranges’, post is full of the stuff I mentioned. For every mistake that your hero makes, you come up with a ‘valid reason’ for him to have made that mistake.
            Among other things, you make up ‘facts’ for AUS en BAH, put blame on other drivers, on his team, and equalling a tech DNF (it could have been a win for RIC, at least a podium) of RIC to a driver error of VER, saying they’re both at fault, blaming his team for not being able to repair a car that has been heavily damaged by him, in time, after finding an additional leak. It’s ridiculous. Even Max himself said it was a stupid mistake, 5 minutes before the end of FP3 and he took the blame for it entirely. Yet you still can’t accept the truth. Of course it’s gonna be hard for you to read through comments. Not all of us have created some kind of orange safe space to retreat from reality.

            Oh, and you also make stuff up about commenters: “they only want to see flaws and highlight them to make a bit story out of thin air” – Where did you see me do that?
            Robbie’s post is balanced – Sure you, partly, agree, bc he’s also a f-boy, nothing new here.
            I am not trying to take the blame off Verstappen – Yes you are, all the time
            I was ready to eat my shoe out of frustration after FP3, an undiniable poor timed mistake, – So why not blame the team, right?
            though I publicly blaming Verstappen over Bahrain and Baku is just wanted to see a driver fail and put the blame on him for the cause of wanting to put the blame on someone. – Safe space
            Usually it’s a thin line betwene hero or zero, the best overtakes are usually the trickiest once as well. – You do understand this concept, yet you don’t accept any criticism.

    2. @Biggsy I think it is ridiculous to suggest he hasn’t the capacity to learn, and how would you know what he’s been told for too long?

      1. An interview in Australia with Jos Verstappen made it quite clear why MV drives the way he does. His father said that he taught Max to drive at 100% all of the time, push hard don’t back off.
        I’m not saying that MV can’t or won’t change his approach. But life long habits can be extremely difficult to break, and if he does manage to change can he maintainer his speed?
        It will be interesting to see how things do over the rest of the season.

        1. Well, Daddy was such a great driver, look at all his wins and titles. He must know what he’s talking about, right?

          1. Jos got to F1, and had a reputation for being a monster in the wet. So yes, I’d say he does.

          2. Jos was a good driver in the wet, relatively better than in the dry, but not necessarily “a monster”.
            But the reason why “he taught Max to drive at 100% all of the time, push hard don’t back off.”, is probably bc he modelled Max after the benchmark of all benchmarks when he was driving, MS, with his ‘take no prisoners style’ and being the consummate professional.

  3. He admitted it was his own mistake. So no problems there.
    On the other hand, the team sends him out on new HS tires to………cruise around ?
    Also, the team radio was telling RIC where to go faster and brake later. This was based on VER’s laps. So they need VER to go fast and improve the car and setup too.
    If you watch every FP, VER is almost always direct on high pace. This helps RIC also to perfect his lap times.
    But, he has to keep it on track. :)

    1. Tinfoil hat….

    2. they probably told MV to cruise around because if you ask him to go fast he will hit the barriers or may be have a 9th crash. whereas ric applies his brains when team tells him to go faster.. he knows it means going faster without crashing your or others cars’

      1. Yeah, that’s why he drove the fastest lap on the ultra softs…………..

        1. No, that’s bc he had 30-35 laps fresher tyres than the others in a RB, Merc or Ferrari.

          1. And wasn’t it on HS?

          2. So he was cruising the fastest lap. Even more impressive!

          3. My mistake. Hyper Soft indeed!

          4. Krxx, during his crash-lap he was more than 0.2 seconds faster than his teammate… in reality he usually is.
            You can pretty well moan on inconsistact, but to citizise his raw pace is just paying stupid.

            Monaco should have been a titanic fight for the pole between Ricciardo and Verstappen

          5. Matn, in case you didn’t know, we weren’t talking about FP3.
            In reality RIC topped FP1, 2, 3, Q1, 2, 3 and the race result standings. That’s reality. You may have forgotten about it.

            Again, where did you see me moaning on inconsistency, where did you see me moan at all. Funny you started to talk about inconsistency though. It actually suggests you’re not totally disconnected from reality, making it more likely you create your alternative reality deliberately and consciously.

            but to citizise his raw pace is just paying stupid. – Where did I criticize his raw speed? Saying that I did is..
            Monaco should have been a titanic fight for the pole between Ricciardo and Verstappen – Yeah, weren’t it for Max’ “stupid mistake”.

  4. The big problem Max has is that his whole philosophy is to put his car into a gap and expect the other driver to bail out, if the other driver has the audacity to remain alongside or put up any sort of resistance there will be contact. I think Max has been very fortunate that in his first few years the other driver usually let him get away with it, but this year he has inevitably been found out. I think he has a very bright future if he can improve his racecraft, he has the speed, but so do most of the drivers on the grid, it’s making the right decisions which separates the good from the great.

    1. Then you could say RIC was found out by VER in Bakoe Trying to dive bomb on the inside (after throwing a dummy) expecting him to disappear…

      1. There was a gap on the left, which Verstappen as usual covered at the last tenth of a second (see against Räikkönen in Spa 2016 for details) I think Ricciardo had exhausted all options, earlier in the race he attempted an overtake on the outside but as usual Verstappen tried to force Ricciardo off the track and inevitably banged wheels. Ricciardo knew the only way to overtake was to get the inside line. I think the only error Ricciardo made in Baku was expecting his team mate not to swerve around in the braking zone.

        1. And for wich of these actions has VER been penalized exactly? (glad you’re not a steward)

          1. He was penalised in Baku, not finishing the race is probably the most severe penalty a driver will experience.

      2. “Then you could say ..” You oranged-glassed people can say all you want……………………… (Let me add some dots for dramatic effect)

    2. Officialmwalter
      30th May 2018, 11:29

      I’ve been if the same opinion for a couple of seasons. He relies on others to bail out – similar tactic to Senna and Schumacher.
      The only way to counter this is for other drivers to hold out – which for the top drivers risks ruining a race now and then – but wrecks Max’s season.

  5. Where were we when aged 20? I know where i was, screwing around everywhere i could ;).

    Plenty of mistakes to make when you are young, max will be fine.

    1. @azmo It hasn’t been that long since I was 20, in fact, it’s only been three years since I was 20, but I was doing precisely the same stuff as these days, LOL.

    2. @azmo when I was 20 I knew the difference between screwing around at my job and screwing around with my friends. I’d assume that Max knows the difference.

      1. the difference is he’s lost millions for his team.. and he’s screwed hundreds back home at the factory.. lol

    3. @azmo were you in a top position earning millions when you were 20?

      1. No, thats kind of my point ;), cut him some slack.

  6. Last time I checked, a teacher would usually get paid more than their apprentice? Correct?

    ;)

    1. not in my experience, training people who instantly earn 5x my salary after qualifying.

  7. Very good summary of Horner. But come on, Max will in the end be fully fine of course. The guy has so much talent, only needs very strong leadership to shape him further and confront him with his mistakes constantly. For sure he will hit his nose a few times still, but over time the hard lessons will do their job. The raw speed is amazing, but his recent errors are just plain stupid and he knows that. Such a talent will always wake up in time and correct himself sooner or, in Max’ case, a bit later. Very interesting to follow how he will proceed from here.

    1. @bgc1978 I see it that way as well. Even if RB throws him out he’ll find another team. Of course he will learn, everybody does. This style has worked perfectly for him until this year. It’s the first time he has to race against guys that are very close in performance (sometimes quicker) and more experienced.

      In his career everything came quickly. He probably had some margin left most of the time so he could always go into a higher gear if necessary. That margin isn’t there when you race against the best in the world. Sometimes you simply can’t beat them and have to settle for second or third. Like Ham and Vet did last race.

    2. Once he has a car for pole positions, he won’t have to make mistakes…..only look in his mirrors…

      1. Newsflash, he has had a car for poles. Last time around was last race. The Well of Excuses just doesn’t dry up for you folks now does it, however clearly it obvious is.

        1. How many poles has RIC scored this season? 1 is not plural

          1. More than Max is the answer to that one.

          2. The statement was: Red Bull have a car for pole positions. (plural)
            My statement: They have not. (Ok just the one in Monaco)
            Who want to bet on pole position for RB in Canada? Please comment below.

          3. Hhh, are you trying to look smart? First, learn how to use language. If a car has the ability to get A pole, it’s usual to say something like “that’s a car capable of getting poles”. Secondly, BAH could have been pole too (though it would have been a beast of a lap, I admit). But more importantly, there are still 15 GP’s with plenty of opportunities to get more poles, and the expectation IS that they will. (And in ’16 and ’17 they also had/came close to multiple poles.)
            Main point is: The Well of Excuses just doesn’t dry up for you folks now does it, however clearly it obvious is. You’ve now added ‘semantics’.

  8. Until Max legitimately fears the loss of his seat I think he’ll continue to disengage his brain while in the car. His mistakes can no longer be put down to a lack of experience and I think that so long as he’s faster than his teammate he’s happy rather than striving to do better than his teammate which is a completely different thing.

    1. @velocityboy

      What’s going to hit him the worst is if Dan continues to fight with Seb and Lewis for the title, and Max has to then play the role of a supportive number 2 driver to help Dan win. That’s going to pierce through him like a dagger… and I think that’s when the impact of his mistakes will really hit him.

      1. spot on, Dan’s success will hurt him the most

      2. @todfod in a normal situation I would agree with you but I have a feeling that RB are so happy to have a driver of his talent level, that they won’t make him a number two. I don’t even think they’ll give him a good talking to when he throws points away they’re so afraid of upsetting him and having him leave for another team.

        1. Lol suddenly DR is in a WDC winning car? Don’t think so. I mean, it would be great if the RBR is ‘Monaco’ dominant from here on in, and it would also be quite an historic feat, but I’d not be expecting that.

        2. @velocityboy

          I get what you’re saying. Although Verstappen has had a bad run of races, he’s still a hot property in F1. I know that Red bull can’t get too harsh on him because he’s their future, but if it comes to a situation where Dan has a really serious shot at the title and that requires Max to play support, I expect Red bull to give him team orders. Max might be important to them… But I don’t know of he’s more important than a championship.

          1. I am sure that red bull would love 2010 to happen all over again but ferrari and mercedes are still in a better position for the championship so it is pretty impossible

  9. Yes Horner and Marko hailed Ricciardo as the conquering hero Sunday afternoon, but how long will that last? If Verstappen does get his act together and manage to drive cleanly and quickly (like Ricciardo). Going on past statements and actions by Red Bull management, Ricciardo will still be considered the No2.
    I’m not confident that anything written in a contract can truly determine equality.

    1. @johnrkh

      To be honest.. I think this year, Max has already blown his opportunity for #1 driver status. Unless he actually manages to get ahead of Ricciardo on points, I doubt he’ll be getting any special treatment at Red Bull.

      However, if Ricciardo doesn’t end up signing with Red Bull again and looks unlikely to fight for the WDC, then there’s a chance of Max reclaiming that #1 driver status this season. Highly unlikely situation though.

      1. I really doubt the team is concerned with driver status. I expect they will not be as competitive as they were at Monaco, and the title fight will be between LH and SV. RBR will be having both MV and DR working together to advance the team as they have been all along. There will be no use whatsoever in designating a 1 and 2 when neither driver will be vying for the WDC.

        1. It all depends on whether Dan stays in the title fight. It’s a big ‘if’ but still entirely possible. If Renault gets a decent upgrade and Dan stays consistent, it’s possible that he could take the fight to the last 2 or 3 races.

          It’s only in the last quarter of races where this scenario could really come to play. We’ll just have to wait and see.

          1. As great a feat as that would be for RBR to have suddenly produced a car that competitive at all the remaining tracks, not just the high downforce kind, and Renault upped their Pu as well, they’d have to pretty much immediately designate that Max no longer take any points away from DR. That won’t be happening, and as the season goes along Mercedes and Ferrari will proceed to grab the lions share of the big points at most of the remaining venues. It’s not just a big if, but a small possibility, not ‘entirely possible.’ I would suggest driver status on the team is not even a thought at RBR nor will be.

  10. His talent is not greater than any of the current good young F1 drivers. Many of them could go even faster if they didn’t care about consequences, like Max hasn’t to date. Also, Max has never accumulated sufficient points where he’s been under pressure to defend a high place in the championship. So we don’t know how he’ll cope with such pressure. Right now he’s overpaid and under-delivering.

  11. “Learn the importance of learning”
    Horner should teach the importance of teaching.
    Please someone send him the link to Wikipedia article about tautology.

  12. Hey, what sickens me the most is horner kissing danny’s ass now. Lol They didn’t have the decency to pay him the same amount, they also screwed him over so Max can win on debut. Max is a great talent and danny is a class act but redbull driver management sucks, especially horner, who can’t act for nuts.

    1. @Domingo It is merely a matter of contracts. Max went to RBR last year and committed himself to the team long-term, so he got himself a new contract and a ton more money. DR is under an existing contract through this season and I’m sure if he’d like to stay at RBR they will extend him the same courtesy.

    2. I think that statement is a bit hard on Horner – It’s Helmut Marko pulling the strings with driver management…

  13. Max had a better Sunday than he had Saturday

    Just love typical British understatements

  14. The Verstappen thing is interesting and it poses a difficult question. He’s not necessarily ‘not performing’ – he’s fast, often faster than Ricciardo. He’s also not consistently making these mistakes: his 2017 season was superb. So what is it? Is it wanting too much, too fast? Is it just a string of bad luck? Is it just a string of uncharacteristic mistakes, or could you say that 2017 being so amazing was the uncharacteristic part? He’s no Maldonado, he’s more of a Giles Villeneuve – but Villeneuve never got to be World Champion, and stayed in a top car because of Enzo’s unconditional love. I doubt anyone in F1 has such love right now. Pace will never be his problem, in fact his pace is astonishing. But without results, who cares?

  15. Ricardo’s not there to teach Max anything , he’s there to whip Max’s ass and win the WDC. RB are paying the price for backing the wrong horse. Daniel needs to get that Ferrari seat .
    Ferrari have lost confidence in Vettel delivering a WDC or WCC so now is the time for Daniel to jump.

    1. Uh no…RBR back both horses…and uh no…Ferrari has not lost confidence in SV.

      1. @robbie
        RBR don’t back both horses , if they did Max would be back at TR by now with all the mistakes he’s made.
        Ferrari lost faith in Vettel when he drove into Lewis last year and basically lost the plot from there. His veto of who drives alongside him was over on that day.
        Kimi’s only driving for the money , so why wouldn’t Ferrari want a hungry Dan alongside Seb to give him a real hurry up.
        Ferrari want that WDC/WCC and will do whatever it takes to get it .
        Seb knows Dan’s coming to Ferrari and he’s already looking for a Merc escape plan .

  16. Ricciardo better start teaching Max some things, so far he has only been schooling the kid. :p

    1. More like Max schooled DR on performance last year, and Max has shot himself in the foot several times this year, meaning he is in the thick of it with DR again, like last year, but for too many mistakes so far. A little more patient and refined Max is still going to have formidable pace that DR will continue to have to deal with.

      1. to @robbie
        – know the facts, please. Ricciardo had 6 DNFs last year, whereas Verstappen – 7. And still Ricciardo was 32 points ahead of Verstappen, meaning even if we give Max another 25 points for an extra DNF, Daniel will still be ahead with 7 more points.
        In other words, Ricciardo is driving better than Verstappen for three years in a row on merit. Ricciardo is equal in race pace and 10 times better in race craft.

        1. @Sviat The facts are that Max outqualified DR in double the races 13-7, finished ahead of DR 5-2 of the 7 times they both finished, and Max also lead DR by nearly double the laps over the season.

          Yes DR managed more points and much of that was because Max’s unreliability occurred at more damaging times for him…he was higher up the grid when his unreliability cost him higher points, and his unreliability also handed DR more points than DR’s unreliability handed Max, because Max was usually ahead.

          Yeah sure, call DR more consistent, but on average most people would agree the formula for beating one’s teammate is not generally to be outqualified, outfinished, and out lead over the season.

          Max has been his own worst enemy this season with some ragged driving and some careless mistakes, but that can be refined and the most important thing is his pace is without question. It went without question last year, and again this year.

          I would say of the three years we’re talking about, let’s recall that three years ago Max didn’t start the season at Red Bull so he was on his hind foot vs DR but still got up to speed quite quickly, last year Max handled DR very well and in general big unreliability for both skewed the points, but Max’s domination of the numbers as explained above is without question, and yeah this year DR is doing better, albeit Max with every bit the pace still.

  17. Please don’t change Verstappen, F1 is already very boring…

  18. Well, he screwed up badly.
    You don’t see guys with the best car doing what he did, so i don’t think his admission of a mistake is a sign of him learning something.
    It’s the obvious thing to do. What would he blame?

    His main problem is that he seems to be trying to prove all the time that he is as good as people say he is.
    That’s the only excuse i can find for that crash two hours before the qualifying on a mostly worthless session that cost him the weekend.

  19. It will be interesting to see what Red Bull do if RIC walks which he will no doubt do if Ferrari wants him.
    Then Max will be the “leader”.
    Not a RBR fan, I can only hope it happens:)

Comments are closed.