Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was compared to the greatest Formula 1 drivers of all time this week. Former Formula 1 driver Stefan Johansson believes the Dutchman, who won his first world title last month, drives harder than drivers like Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher. Verstappen’s aggressive driving style has split opinions. Johansson wrote on his blog: “The problem we are currently on the right track is that Max has taken the Senna playbook and the Schumacher playbook to a whole new level.
“Basically, I think there is a good code of conduct between drivers. Most of the current generation of the new generation of drivers drive very cleanly but hard, there have been some really great fights this year but they are not at the top and so it mostly goes unnoticed. Nobody cares about the boys in fifth or sixth place. “
Since making his Formula 1 debut at the age of 17, Verstappen has been known for being gifted with great pace.
This is why Red Bull has invested so much time in making him their number one driver.
However, this did not always contribute to team harmony, which was evident when Daniel Ricciardo was the Dutchman’s teammate at Red Bull.
During the 2018 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, Verstappen and Ricciardo collided after the Australian lost position to his teammate.
Ricciardo felt that his team hadn’t helped him and his frustration was evident when he crashed into the stern of Verstappen and both had to give up.
Speaking of the 2019 incident, Ricciardo told the Formula 1 podcast Beyond the Grid: “I think a few things came to the surface after that.
“We hit the wheels a couple of times wherever Max got into me instead of me going into Max. Part of me was waiting for the team to say “stop the shit” but I never really got that.
“I finally overtook Max. The undercut wasn’t strong. I think the overcut was stronger because the tires were warming up, so I pitted first and eventually Max came back before me.
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“So I was angry too, I was like, ‘Guys, I put all the hard work into it, I passed him and now he’s in front of me again, I’m sure you’ll just let me go, time?’
“So I came over the radio to say something, but my engineer said, ‘No, you’re driving with Max,’ which means there are no team orders, you have to overtake him one more time.
“To be honest, at the time of the impact I was just thinking, ‘Who cares? she [the team] deserves that ‘. That was my honest feeling. I wasn’t sad or angry that I just lost points.
“I say now. I was more like ‘F * ck you guys’. I think everyone saw it [the crash] Come.”
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Ricciardo later decided to leave Red Bull and switched to Renault for the 2019 season.
When asked whether the Baku incident led him to leave Red Bull, Ricciardo replied: “Of course, the week after, yes.
“I’ve decided in my mind that I have to keep going. But then you go to Monaco about a month later and I have the highest of all highs and start thinking, ‘Oh, I was in Baku just emotional, we’re going to find out’.
“But Baku was definitely a tough one for me.”
