Daniel Ricciardo labelled ‘perfect’ to partner Max Verstappen at Red Bull

Daniel Ricciardo has been linked to the ‘toughest role in the world’ but one question mark surrounds a looming return to Red Bull.

SPA, BELGIUM - JULY 28:Daniel Ricciardo of Australia and Scuderia AlphaTauri during practice/qualifying ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Belgium at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps on July 28, 2023 in Spa, Belgium. (Photo by Peter Fox/Getty Images)

Daniel Ricciardo has been labelled as “perfect” to partner Max Verstappen at Red Bull at the end of 2024, with Sergio Perez under pressure as Formula One gets ready to return from its summer hiatus.

Former three-time Le Mans class winner David Kennedy told PlanetF1 that the Australian is perfectly placed to move back up from the junior team, and was surprised his underperforming predecessor, Dutchman Nyck De Vries, wasn’t replaced sooner.

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“I’m surprised he wasn’t there earlier,” Kennedy said.

“I think his standard, when he ran as a team-mate with Verstappen, was really respectable. I think maybe there were other issues that came to play there but, in terms of a tough-performing driver, Daniel is top stuff.”

However, Kennedy maintained that Ricciardo needed more time given his return to the sport from a 6-month long sabbatical.

“There’s always an issue that, when you come back after a bit of a sabbatical, there’s a little bit of an edge loss. So there’d have to be a question mark about him,” he said.

Ricciardo is gunning for a return to the top team. (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images)

With Ricciardo having served as Verstappen’s teammate from 2016 to 2018, outscoring him over the course of their time together, Kennedy believes Ricciardo is best placed to handle being alongside the two-time World Champion, who is almost certain to secure a third straight title this year.

“It is the toughest role in the world to be the teammate of someone of that outstanding ability,” he said.

“There are very, very few, in my experience, that could handle that. Who comes to mind is Eddie Irvine. Eddie sat alongside, ostensibly, one of the best racing drivers ever [Michael Schumacher]. And could, every time, get out there and really push and get within a whisper of Schumacher.

“I think this is a real difficult situation now that [Red Bull] find themselves in and so, would Daniel be the man to sit in there?

“I always thought he is such a solid player. He might not have that magic dust that Verstappen has, but he is so incredibly close that he would be the perfect team-mate. Someone who is tough as nuts and can accept that somebody can out-qualify him by that fraction.

“Because, if you’re a smart racer, you can still win races.”

Verstappen has developed a reputation as a notoriously difficult teammate, having been through four different teammates since replacing Daniil Kvyat at Red Bull in 2016.

Ricciardo’s return to the grid is the talk of the F1 world after he was granted a lifeline to drive for Red Bull’s feeder team AlphaTauri for the rest of the 2023 season.

He has finished 13th and 16th in his two races back, driving well if not unremarkably, in one of the slowest cars on the grid.

AlphaTauri clearly isn’t the end game for Ricciardo, who has aspirations to return to a full-time seat at a top team like Red Bull, where he enjoyed the best results of his career.

Red Bull boss Christian Horner hasn’t been afraid to put pressure on Sergio Perez, saying Ricciardo’s best bet is to target the Mexican’s seat for the 2025 season after his contract expires.

Verstappen has burned through a number of teammates while at Red Bull. (Photo by JOHN THYS / POOL / AFP)

Ricciardo has said a return to Red Bull would be a “fairytale” way to end his career, but it begs the inevitable question — has he just wasted the last five years to be back where he was as the Robin to Verstappen’s Batman?

Verstappen is rewriting the record books this season and will claim his third consecutive drivers’ championship in his Red Bull rocket ship.

Speaking on the Sky Sports F1 podcast, commentator David Croft said Verstappen’s Red Bull teammates almost have to accept that they will be the team’s No. 2 driver and have no chance of winning the championship.

Croft said: “Is it a weird paradox that to be a successful driver pairing to Max, you have to accept that you’re number two, but to be the best driver, you never accept that you’re number two and you’re in it to win. Isn’t that like impossible?”

Co-commentator Karun Chandhok, who drove in 11 F1 races, replied: “In Checo’s situation he’s got to accept he’s against one of the greatest naturally talented drivers ever to sit in a Formula One car.”

Chandhok made the point that while Red Bull is dominating F1 now, it will be crucial to have two strong drivers when other teams begin to get a handle on the new era of regulations and catch them up.

“For me, the point of all of this is at the moment it’s fine, right? Max is winning the Constructors’ by himself,” Chandhok continued.

“But the reality is, if Mercedes and McLaren and Aston and Ferrari do get it together, and the natural order of things is we will start to see convergence with the stability of rules, that’s just the way Formula 1 has always been, they will get closer.”