Ricciardo’s Verstappen quip as ex-Red Bull driver throws support behind under-fire driver
"Max is ridiculous. Kid's so good."
Such was Max Verstappen’s dominance at the United States Grand Prix, his former Red Bull teammate Daniel Ricciardo said he was probably already placing his dinner order as he raced to his third win in four grands prix.
Verstappen claimed a commanding win at the United States Grand Prix where he led from lights to flag to secure maximum points having won the Sprint a day earlier.
Daniel Ricciardo on Max Verstappen: Max is ridiculous. Kid’s so good
Scoring 33 points on a weekend in which championship leader Oscar Piastri only managed 10, Verstappen closed the gap in the title race to 40 points, while Lando Norris in second is just 26 points ahead of the Red Bull driver.
Verstappen’s team principal called it history in the making.
“I think watching Max driving is watching history in the making,” Laurent Mekies told the accredited media, including PlanetF1.com, after the United States Grand Prix.
“He surprises us every time he goes out on track, he surprised us on how much he’s pushing us between a session and another, how much sensitivity he has in stuff that we sometimes can see and sometimes we cannot see.”
Even McLaren CEO Zak Brown applauded the Dutch racing driver, telling Sky Germany: “Congratulations to Max, he was fast as always… Max is a great driver. Now we have to try to break their momentum somehow.”
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Verstappen’s former teammate Ricciardo agrees.
The Australian raced alongside Verstappen for three seasons from 2016 to 2018, before rejoining Red Bull’s sister team Racing Bulls in his final seasons in the sport.
“Haha yeah,” news.com.au reports him as having said in a WhatsApp chat with fans. “Max is ridiculous. Kid’s so good.
“Yes, I am stating the obvious now.”
So good, Ricciardo quipped that his former teammate was probably already thinking about dinner order as he crushed his rivals in Austin.
“Meanwhile,” he added, “Max is contacting the restaurant about his steak cooked medium rare for later tonight.”
The Honey Badger is eager to see if Verstappen can continue his momentum and secure a fifth successive World title ahead of the McLaren teammates.
“I am looking forward to it and Max is keeping this championship even more exciting than it already was,” he said.
Ricciardo, who left Formula 1 last season, also a few words to say about Verstappen’s current teammate, Yuki Tsunoda.
Although he was by no means on a par with Verstappen in Austin, Tsunoda made up positions in both the Sprint and the grand prix to bring in his first double points-haul in a Sprint weekend as a Red Bull driver.
He finished seventh in both the Sprint and the grand prix, putting him onto 28 points in the Drivers’ championship.
“Two days in a row he’s come through nicely,” Ricciardo said.
Tsunoda could learn his fate in the coming days after Red Bull motorsport Helmut Marko said the team will make a decision after the Mexican Grand Prix as to who will partner Verstappen next season, and who will be the two drivers with Racing Bulls.
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