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

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.” 

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, 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.

Post Edited By: Somin Bhattacharjee
Daniel Ricciardo Max Verstappen Red Bull Sergio Perez

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Naman Gopal Srivastava

Naman is an F1 writer at The SportsRush. Initially a football fanatic who worships Puyol and Leo Messi, Naman soon fell in love with the world of F1 upon reading about Jim Clarke. While the current era drivers do fascinate him, Naman still chooses to idolize Clarke and Ayrton Senna. When he is not busy watching the highlights of some of the greatest races of his idols, Naman can be found scribbling little snippets in his diary of poems or out in the town, exploring new places to eat.

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