Who knows if in this season of endless duels with Mercedes, in which the role of the second drivers is also proving important – especially as ‘disturbing agents’ against the first rival driver – at the top of the Red Bull house will never have passed into mind what it would be like to live this challenge with Daniel Ricciardo in team. The Australian, today in a crisis of results at McLaren, joined Max Verstappen during the Dutchman’s first three seasons in Red Bull, from 2016 to 2018. His farewell – at the time – was very badly digested by the team executives, above all Helmut Marko. Over time the clarifications arrived, but since then the Milton Keynes team has never found stability on the second car.
In the space of three seasons, three different drivers alternated, Pierre Gasly, Alex Albon and Sergio Perez, and only the latter achieved sufficient results. However, the Mexican also comes out at the losing moment of the ‘duel’ with the equal role of Mercedes, Valtteri Bottas, ahead of him in the standings. In Ricciardo’s time, however, the difference in performance between the Australian and Verstappen was never particularly high, with the Perth native who on several occasions was able to beat the # 33. At the time from the signing with Renault it was also assumed that Ricciardo would leave Red Bull because he felt he was not receiving equal treatment with Dutch. Returning to the question, the current McLaren driver has denied that reconstruction of the facts.
“From the point of view of the car and the setup, I never questioned that we had the same equipment – commented Ricciardo, interviewed by the site RacingNews365.com – but sometimes I felt that we didn’t have the same point of view in certain situations. The Baku accident is the greatest example “. On the occasion, # 3 was judged by his own team as the main person responsible for the contact with Verstappen which caused a double retirement. That episode opened the first break, which then culminated with the farewell at the end of the season. “It was there that I felt a little unstable. I was insecure, I think – concluded Ricciardo – I remember that with Webber and Vettel there was the question of the front wing and who should use it. Honestly, it never happened to me ”.
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