Daniel Ricciardo Still Hopes For Max Verstappen Partnership Despite Sergio Perez’s Extended Stay

Despite being under immense pressure, Red Bull will keep Sergio Perez as its driver for the time being. This is disappointing news for Daniel Ricciardo, who was hoping to reunite with his old teammate Max Verstappen at the Milton-Keynes-based outfit. However, that doesn’t mean that the honey badger is giving up.

An eight-time Grand Prix winner, Ricciardo wants to go up against Verstappen one more time before calling it quits. When asked if he would love to drive alongside the Dutchman, Ricciardo replied to Racing News 365, “Of course, I would.” 

on whether he would love one last chance to go up against Verstappen, he replied:

“Yeah. I’m not going to give a diplomatic answer. Of course, I would”. pic.twitter.com/q8ydfzOWse

— ফারিনা // Farina (@namedafterflour) August 10, 2024

At the same time, Ricciardo understands that he cannot just get the Red Bull seat because he wants it. He has to earn it. “It’s not just going to be handed to me,” the Perth-born driver adds. “But if I earned it and the chance was there, of course, I’d love to do it. So we’ll see.”

Ricciardo and Verstappen were teammates between 2016 and 2018 and were good friends off the track. The former, however, left Red Bull in search of a more prominent role, and his career ended up getting derailed.

Ricciardo failed to meet expectations – Helmut Marko

Ricciardo’s start to the 2024 season was dismal, and RB teammate Yuki Tsunoda outperformed him every step of the way. At one point, his seat at Red Bull’s sister team looked to be under threat, but he has since bettered his form.

Ricciardo started finishing in the points more frequently after the first five races of the campaign. And in Belgium, he finished P10 after starting from 13th.

Helmut Marko on Daniel Ricciardo:

“Daniel was put in the car and if he had been significantly faster than Yuki there was an idea to bring him back to Red Bull Racing”

“But he also had this up and down. So, so far, he didn’t fulfill the criteria to be a Red Bull Racing… pic.twitter.com/NUsYdk8Qsj

— RBR Daily (@RBR_Daily) August 7, 2024

Helmut Marko, however, doesn’t believe it was enough. Marko doesn’t think Ricciardo lived up to the expectations set ahead of the start of the season. Had he been consistently faster than Tsunoda, there would have been no problem in promoting him to Red Bull.

His inconsistency plagued his chances of making it to Red Bull for now, but the 35-year-old has time to make amends.