Max Verstappen feels that Daniel Ricciardo leaving McLaren was the right decision since their cars did not suit him at all.
Ricciardo joined McLaren in 2021 in a move that most people saw as perfect on paper. On the complete contrary, his move to the Woking outfit turned out to be a complete disaster.
Other than his 2021 Italian GP victory, he has been comprehensively outperformed by his young teammate Lando Norris. This led to McLaren making a tough call on the Aussie’s future. Despite having another year left on his contract, they announced that Ricciardo would leave them after the remaining nine races of the 2022 campaign.
Several figures in F1 have extended support to Ricciardo and hope that he stays in the sport. The likes of Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton feel that he should have been given more time. 2021 Champion Max Verstappen, however, feels that moving away from McLaren was the right decision.
The main reason behind this was the fact that Ricciardo was not at all suited to the McLaren car.
Max Verstappen extends support to former Red Bull teammate Daniel Ricciardo
Verstappen and Ricciardo were teammates at Red Bull from 2016 to 2018. It was Verstappen’s emergence as the team’s number-one driver that made Ricciardo leave the Austrian team in the first place. Since then, his career has gone downhill, but there is still a lot of time for him to show just how he good he is, according to Verstappen.
Ricciardo was a seven-time race winner with Red Bull in a time when the sport was dominated by Mercedes. These accolades are enough for any team to understand just how good the Perth-born driver can be, behind the wheels of a car he’s comfortable in.
“Sometimes a car cannot suit your driving style,” Verstappen said ahead to Motorsport. “If it doesn’t work out it is better to maybe pursue a different direction, whatever that is”.
“But he’s a great guy, he’s shown he’s an amazing driver,” the Dutchman continued. “He’s won his races. I hope he stays in Formula 1.”
Verstappen is currently 80 points ahead of Charles Leclerc in the Drivers’ Standings and is the favorite to win the 2022 World Championship. Ricciardo meanwhile is P12 in the standings with just 19 points to his name. Where the latter ends up come 2023, is yet to be seen.
