Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo were once teammates. But a little dispute occurred in 2018 that separated them. The Australian decided to take an exit as he felt Max was being prioritized over him by Red Bull. They were good friends, but several times, the on-track battles with each other created differences in hearts. Max Verstappen was at fault for Ricciardo’s exit from Red Bull, yet they did not end the friendship. But the hard feelings somehow remained. After four years after that incident, in 2023, once again, Max Verstappen snubs the ex-MacLaren driver. When Max Verstappen needed data for his F1 simulator, he denied taking Ricciardo’s data, saying he would rather do it himself.
The 2022 Formula One season shocked everyone either with Red Bull’s sudden stunning dominance and making Max Verstappen a back-to-back champion or with several driver’s exit announcements. Sebastian Vettel, the four-time world champion, saddened everyone by ending his F1 career by the end of the season. Not only he but also Daniel Ricciardo gave sad news as his contract with MacLaren ended. And no other teams had a vacant seat for him.
The Australian, along with Mick Schumacher and Niki Latifi, were the free drivers unhired by any team for the 2023 championship. But fortunately, Red Bull brought Ricciardo back into the paddock as their reserve driver. On the other hand, Mick Schumacher has been hired by Mercedes.
“I Would Rather Like To Work On Myself”- Max Verstappen
Meanwhile, now that Daniel Ricciardo is Red Bull’s reserve driver, he had to put a lot of effort and time into the simulator’s work to gather data along with public relations works. But controversial things were raised in between. Max Verstappen, Red Bull’s lead driver, admitted that he did not want to use the reserve driver’s data in order to improve his own driving style.
In an interview taken by Speedweek, Max Verstappen explained that sometimes, the simulator takes longer times, like days. But it is worth giving time to the virtual races. However, Max expressed that he would never like to be a test driver who works on simulators like the other teams have. Rather, he would like to work on himself because he believes that each driver has his own driving style. Max revealed that the simulator helps him keep concentrating.
He said, “There are not many things to do at home except the training on the simulator. In addition, it is something that I enjoy.” Recently, Red Bull’s advisor Helmut Marko revealed that Verstappen is so involved in simulator driving that he is even planning to convert his own private jet into a flying F1 sim in the future. Rather than reading a book or watching a movie, the Dutchman would like to utilize his travel time for gaming.