Verstappen 'has matured' at Red Bull

Verstappen 'has matured' at Red Bull - Ricciardo

News24
15 Dec 2019, 04:13 GMT+10

Cape Town - Daniel Ricciardo believes he and former team-mate Max Verstappen had a good chemistry at Red Bull, and says the Dutch driver is not as fiery or erratic as he used to be.

Ricciardo and Verstappen provided one of the most exciting line-ups on the grid before the Aussie departed for Renault ahead of the 2019 season.

Ricciardo feels that the dynamic was a positive one despite several on-track clashes and believes Verstappen has curbed some of the more aggressive characteristics he did have.

"I think we [myself and Max] were good for each other," Ricciardo told Formula 1's Beyond The Grid podcast.

"He certainly grew in that time and I want to say that he probably learned a bit from me being with the team longer and being older.

"And you can see it. He is less fiery, erratic than he was a couple of years ago and he has matured.

"I think he's found his place now and if I contributed to that then great and if not then that's cool as well."

Ricciardo went on to say that he and Verstappen remain friends and that they were always able to move on from any incidents involving them.

"We quickly overcame things [clashes like Baku and Budapest 2017] and I think ultimately that's because we respected each other," he added.

"I know how competitive he is and he knows how competitive I am so things are going to happen. But I think we respect each other's will to compete and we could kind of move on because of that.

Asked if there were any politics involved with Verstappen, he replied: "No, there wasn't.

"I think we knew what we were doing, knew what we were after and just got on with it."

- TEAMtalk

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