Max Verstappen has been racing in the F1 since 2015 and has had several teammates but his father has picked one as his best teammate.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen has had many teammates in his 8 years long illustrious career in F1 but there is one that his father feels has been the best teammate of the 2-time world champion.
The Dutchman’s teammates, namely: Daniil Kvyat, Carlos Sainz, Daniel Ricciardo, Pierre Gasly, Alex Albon and Sergio Perez – all have been beaten by Verstappen but there is only one, according to his father, who beat the Red Bull driver.
Jos Verstappen, Max’s father and former F1 driver chose Ricciardo as the Dutchman’s best teammate. Jos believes that his son learned the most from the Australian driver and he was very comfortable with him too.
“Max was a young guy then and Ricciardo really good, a qualifying beast,” said Jos.
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When Daniel Ricciardo beat Max Verstappen
Max and Ricciardo were teammates for three F1 seasons from 2016 to 2018 and had plenty of heated rivalries and several infamous stories. Two of these spiky encounters have proven to be the duo’s collision in Azerbaijan and Hungary.
Of all the Dutchman’s teammates, only Ricciardo has managed to place himself above Verstappen in the championship title.
In 2016, Ricciardo and Verstappen drove the Red Bull on tracks in 17 races. In the end, the Australian scored a total of 220 points while Verstappen could only manage to bag 191 points.
Going into the 2017 season, the Honeybadger had an extraordinary F1 season which saw him secure 200 points and finished the season at P5. Meanwhile, Verstappen could only score 168 points and stood at P6 in the standings.
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Max Verstappen had a huge influence on Ricciardo
Away from the track, Ricciardo and Verstappen have had quite a friendly relationship which has grown ever since the Honeybadger left the team for Renault in 2019.
Looking back on the days of his rivalry with the now 2-time world champion, Ricciardo revealed that the Dutchman had a huge influence on him. The 33-year-old also said that Sebastian Vettel has had a huge influence on him during his time together with the 4-time world champion in 2014.
The current McLaren driver revealed that when he thinks of teammates, he definitely thinks about Verstappen. “We pushed each other for better or worse,” Ricciardo added.
Also Read: 8 GP winner Daniel Ricciardo reveals why he has been outperformed by his teammate
