Daniel Ricciardo once called himself superior to Max Verstappen when it came to physical appearance. When asked about what’s common between him and Verstappen, the Honey Badger put himself up ahead of his ex-teammate at Red Bull.
The Australian said it in front of his former teammate in a video released by Red Bull ahead of the 2018 Monaco Grand Prix. As the duo sat down for F1 talks on the shore of the Principality, they asked each other questions.
On one such question, the two-time world champion asked what was common between him and Ricciardo. Answering this, the man from Land Down Under said, “Not much. I mean I’ve got good looks, you don’t.”
The former McLaren driver went on as Verstappen kept smiling, “I’m naturally talented in other sports, you’re not. You can ride a jet ski, I probably can but choose not to because I do better things.”
As the 33-year-old came to a halt, they both laughed. Ricciardo, however, is believed to have done it sportingly. Given the stature of a man the Australian is, something like this coming out of his mouth can surely be considered banter.
Verstappen and Ricciardo always shared a good relationship, except for one moment
The former teammates at Red Bull competed under the Austrian team together from the year 2016 to 2018. While the duo always shared an amicable relationship between them, there was one occasion when things went too far.
The 2018 F1 season saw extreme competition between Verstappen and Ricciardo in the Milton-Keynes-based team. Not ready to leave an inch, the duo became increasingly hostile. And as the tensions increased, Azerbaijan Grand Prix saw the epitome of it.
#WTF1 F1 2010 RED BULL Hit each other in Istanbul
F1 2018 RED BULL hit each other in Baku pic.twitter.com/DRymBYxLJw— FJ💯 (@LunaticFJ) April 29, 2018
The 2018 Baku race started with heavy contention between the two Red Bull drivers. But in the end, it didn’t help the team as Ricciardo crashed on Verstappen from behind. This made the team fall in jeopardy, and hence the relationship between the two drivers worsened from here on.
Verstappen snubbed Ricciardo’s role at Red Bull
As Ricciardo joined Red Bull in the third and reserve driver’s role, the Dutchman said he wouldn’t be of any help to him when it comes to simulation data. The two-time world champion shared that he would prefer his own work in the team than preferring to work with the Australian’s data.
“I want to work on it myself because everyone has their own driving style. It helps me keep my concentration,” Max Verstappen said before the start of the 2023 F1 season.
The man from Land Down Under has arrived at Red Bull after two years of bitter-sweet experience with McLaren. This was his homecoming after he left the team at the end of the 2018 F1 season.
