Max Verstappen says his former team mate Daniel Ricciardo can look back on his career with pride even if this weekend’s race is his last.
RB are expected to announce after this weekend’s race who will partner Yuki Tsunoda at the team in 2025. However there are rumours Red Bull’s second will replace Ricciardo immediately after this weekend’s race.Asked whether Ricciardo deserved to stay in F1 next year, Verstappen came to the defence of his former team mate, who left Red Bull at the end of 2018.
“Daniel’s a great guy,” said the world champion. “I think he has proven himself as a great Formula 1 driver. He is a friend of mine and I think in general always being in this kind of position is never nice.”
Ricciardo won seven races for Red Bull, then spent two years at Renault before joining McLaren, and scoring his most recent victory in the 2021 Italian Grand Prix. However, following a string of poor results the team dropped him at the end of 2022, one year before his contract was due to expire.
Red Bull rehired Ricciardo and placed him at its junior team in the middle of last season, amid rumours he was being considered for a promotion back to the top team alongside Verstappen. However he has been out-scored by his less experienced team mate Yuki Tsunoda so far this year.
“I don’t think he has to feel sorry for himself,” Verstappen continued. “Sometimes things maybe don’t work out the way you want them in certain stages of your career, but you still have achieved a lot, more than anyone could ever dream of in their lives.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
“So even if this is the last race or whatever, you can still look back on something amazing that not many people can achieve.”
“He’s a great guy so for me it doesn’t really matter or not you deserve to be here,” Verstappen added. “A lot of people deserve to be here, and some don’t deserve to be here. That’s life, also, in all kinds of sports, that’s how it goes.”
Ricciardo’s decision to leave the race-winning Red Bull team in 2018 attracted much comment at the time. Asked whether he was surprised Ricciardo had largely failed to find success elsewhere, Verstappen said “it’s very difficult to comment on these things because you cannot look within the team as well.”
“From the outside, maybe people always expect more or wish for more,” he said. “It’s just very tough in the midfield, I would say, to have a great run of form, also.
“I guess everyone hopes for more. I think also himself, you always want to be better eventually. Every year you want to become a better driver and sometimes that works a bit better than other years.
Miss nothing from RaceFans
Get a daily email with all our latest stories - and nothing else. No marketing, no ads. Sign up here:
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
2024 Singapore Grand Prix
- Ricciardo’s brake woe and why Perez thought he had an engine problem: Singapore GP radio
- ‘Perez is only quicker when he has DRS’: How Hulkenberg’s Haas beat a Red Bull – again
- Mercedes explain “clear mistake” strategy call which left Hamilton “so angry”
- “Sometimes I wonder why I do this”: How Hamilton endured a slog to sixth in Singapore
- F1’s rules need surgery as well as sticking plaster after fastest lap controversy
bernasaurus (@bernasaurus)
19th September 2024, 14:02
This is beginning to sound like Daniel and others know the end is nigh, even if it’s at the end of the season. I think a decision has been made.
Red Andy (@red-andy)
19th September 2024, 15:20
Almost certainly the decision has already been made. Red Bull’s option on Liam Lawson reportedly expired in the last week or so. So if they have not offered him an F1 seat he would be free to look elsewhere.
BLS (@brightlampshade)
19th September 2024, 14:15
Sounds very ominous
It’s a shame, he’s had some pretty good highs in his career but the last few years have been generally meh. Will be a shame to lose him from the grid, but not entirely unwarranted.
Scotty (@rockonscotty)
19th September 2024, 14:44
Formula 1 needs strong personalities and individual characters. The Honey Badger will be missed on the grid. Who didn’t love watching shooeys!
Edvaldo
19th September 2024, 14:48
Whatever he did to adapt to those Renault cars, killed his driving. He said Norris could cope better with Mclaren’s handling because it’s the only car he has ever driven but now he’s in another team looking just as miserable as he did in Mclaren.
MichaelN
20th September 2024, 9:08
Norris also complained a lot about the McLaren cars, which is often overlooked. He was just better at adapting to it, and even then he might have had more success if the cars hadn’t been that way. Every driver has preferences, but some have a broader range. Ricciardo is not an outlier in that sense.
But after 250+ GPs, and over 12 years, it’s a bit puzzling why some think he’s suddenly going to transform into something he isn’t. This has been a long career, with a bunch of highlights, but ultimately he wasn’t quite up there with the best of them. No shame in that.
Constantijn Blondel
19th September 2024, 16:09
I like about Verstappen that he is one of those drivers that frequently goes out of his way to say something nice about his colleagues/opponents. I think that makes kind of a statement and I like it.
bull mello (@bullmello)
19th September 2024, 16:58
Good on Max to talk about Daniel.
Daniel Ricciardo is a favorite F1 driver of mine and a stellar personality too.
Bring your shoe!
Yes (@come-on-kubica)
19th September 2024, 18:55
I don’t Tsunoda has been much better than Ricciardo. I’d drop both but if I had to keep one – I’d probably select Ricciardo.
SteveP
19th September 2024, 22:16
YT better than DR, and yet:
I fail to see the logic in that.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
19th September 2024, 23:05
I think he means that ricciardo, being newer to the team, has more margin of improvement, after all early season he was further behind tsunoda than now, so if he improves again next year he will be better, that is IF he gets a next year.
MichaelN
20th September 2024, 9:11
That’s a big if, and might just as easily not be the case. Also, Tsunoda isn’t there because Red Bull thinks he’s some big talent. He’s there because of Honda. Keeping up with Tsunoda is not impressive. Gasly made Tsunoda look properly bad during their seasons together, and Red Bull was never interested in bringing him back to the other half of the team either.
Broderick Harper (@banbrorace)
20th September 2024, 12:03
I always thought it was a huge mistake to leave RB and sadly it’s proven correct.
Yes. He would have been surpassed by Max, but that doesn’t mean he couldn’t have made life awkward for him in, say, 2022.
I suspect, just given the Blofeld (brilliant James Bond villain) style management that RB have had with numerous drivers – that he was probably told more directly than he’s revealed that he would be very much a No.2 and so any professional would move on.
Great character. But it’s a cautionary lesson for the likes of Norris, Russell etc in how it can go wrong.
Nick T.
20th September 2024, 12:39
Ricciardo has put himself in this position, but unlike most, I’m surprised they even care so much about getting Lawson in right away whom I doubt Audi is salivating over or any other options. I have two theories about why they’re eager to get him in so quickly:
A) they have a much better junior prospect in Hadjar and want to see how Lawson performs. If he disappoints they’ll pass on him for 2025 and put Hadjar in.
or
B) Marko wants to assert his authority and RBR feels fan/media pressure to give him a drive in this new environment where a solid drive from a rookie generates massive hype. On SM, there is a massive group of new fans who seem to absolutely hate DR and all they do is post about how Lawson should be in the car NOW.
Either way, it’ll be interesting to finally see how good Lawson actually is.