F1 News, Reports and Race Results

Verstappen arrival was big for my season - Ricciardo

Daniel Ricciardo admits "it was a big thing" when Max Verstappen was promoted to Red Bull and helped spur him on this season.

Verstappen had impressed at Toro Rosso but it was still a surprise when Red Bull opted to replace Daniil Kvyat with the then 18-year-old at the Spanish Grand Prix. The Dutch driver duly went and won his first race for the team and Ricciardo acknowledges the importance of Verstappen's arrival in pushing him to perform to his best this season.

"It was a big thing," Ricciardo told the official Red Bull website. "Especially that first weekend in Spain which was pretty crazy, and not just because he won. I suspect the team didn’t know how good Max was and where he was going to fit.

"His win really gave us good energy and pushed us on to get stronger. In Spain everybody was watching, wondering if we’d made a mistake swapping Dany and Max around. I think his win was a relief more than anything, and it definitely pushed us on. Certainly it pushed me on."

And Ricciardo believes his own strong start to the year actually played a part in Red Bull's decision to promote Verstappen at such an early stage.

"I think I’d been at the right level from the start of the season – which may have caused some of the commotion in the first place because I had a better start than Dany. With Max, I felt we were pushing each other from the off. He was closer to me in qualifying and so naturally that provides a spur because you’re looking at each other’s data and finding an extra bit here and there. It makes you better."

Romain Grosjean column: 2016 showed exciting Haas potential

TECHNICAL: Under the skin of the Williams FW38

Silbermann says... Let's go racing in December!

Jorge Lorenzo: When a two-wheel champion tests a Mercedes

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter

Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.

Recent Posts

Bearman gives harsh verdict on Sao Paulo stand-in

Oliver Bearman got quite the early morning wake-up call on Friday in Sao Paulo when…

3 hours ago

Red Bull still 'looking at the facts' regarding Perez's performance

While his team mate Max Verstappen thrilled the fans with a run from 17th on…

4 hours ago

Sad Colapinto laments two crashes in one day in Sao Paulo

Williams suffered a bruising time on Sunday in Sao Paulo, with Alex Albon unable to…

6 hours ago

McLaren: No regrets over timing of Norris pit stop in Sao Paulo GP

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella has insisted that the squad has no regrets about their…

7 hours ago

Williams' Boutsen hoists the mainsail in Adelaide

On this day in 1989, Williams' Thierry Boutsen secured his second F1 win when he…

8 hours ago

Horner: Max 'answered critics' with epic Sao Paulo GP drive

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner hailed Max Verstappen’s sensational Sao Paulo Grand Prix victory…

9 hours ago