LONDON, United Kingdom, Nov 30 – McLaren racer Daniel Ricciardo believes former teammate Max Verstappen has “polished up” his aggression on the race track over the years.
Verstappen has a reputation as a very aggressive driver and certainly had his fair share of battles with Ricciardo when the pair were teammates at Red Bull.
The Dutchman’s aggression on track has come firmly into focus once again this year due to his almost constant battles with Lewis Hamilton on track, battles that have frequently resulted in either one or both of them crashing out of the race.
However, Ricciardo believes some of the criticism directed towards Max is unfair and comes from a time when he was less mature with his aggression.
“I think in general, being his team-mate, I don’t know if I have any more knowledge than everyone watching from the outside, because I think team-mate or not, we know Max, you know, the calibre of driving, how he races,” said Ricciardo.
“I think he always came in with an aggressive approach, but I think he’s certainly matured over time and certainly finds himself in less incidents or accidents as I feel he was in the first year or so in F1.
“So I think he’s definitely polished up that aggression but still has it.
“I don’t know, whether the move was right or wrong, you know, fighting for a win, and I guess the championship at this stage, you’re obviously going to try and fight for as long as you can and do everything you can to hold onto that lead and obviously that one took them both off, so maybe that was over the limit.
“But yeah, I don’t think anything has changed over time.
“As I said, since the first year I think he matured, but I think the last few years the approach hasn’t changed and I think that’s, in a way, what I’ve always respected, is you know you’re going to get raced hard with Max.”
