Max Verstappen and former teammate Daniel Ricciardo have made quite a bit of F1 history together at Red Bull. Ricciardo joined the Milton Keynes-based team in 2014 and two later the reigning world champion followed. Despite their good relationship on and off track, the pair collided and cost each other a race in 2018.
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Verstappen and Ricciardo crashed into each other at the 2018 Azerbaijan GP. After a fraught and tense battle throughout the race, the pair collided and were adjudged at fault equally. A collision between teammates is the worst outcome for a team and it hurts the team massively. Expressing the same emotion, Red Bull boss, Christian Horner, recalled the same ahead of the 2022 Azerbaijan GP.
When asked about the incident, in an interview, Horner discussed the repercussions of the incident. “It’s not their car, so they both came back to the factory and I made them go around every single department and apologize for crashing the team’s car,” revealed Red Bull’s team principal.
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Horner also revealed the thing that hurts the drivers most. He said, “So I announced at the briefing that obviously not only were they dreadfully sorry but they would be picking up the tab for the Christmas bill you know for the Christmas part and the drinks were on the drivers. That probably hurt them more than anything else.”
Verstappen and Ricciardo, as ambitious as they are, would’ve hated losing the points more than paying for tabs. However, the situation did not get ugly between Verstappen and Ricciardo and the drivers finished 4th and 6th in the championship, respectively.
Red Bull boss talks about the rivalry between Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel
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Vettel quickly became the focal point at Red Bull in his first year in 2009. Paired with the Australian, Mark Webber, he propelled the team to a runner-up finish in their first campaign. However, the drivers did not always see eye to eye as the tensions between the two grew. To dissipate some of the anger, Horner discusses an incident.
“It was all becoming incredibly intense,” Horner recalled. “I remember taking both to the Great Ormond hospital to go and meet some kids that were you know having a rough time – just to show them that there are important things going on in life that you know this is a sport at the end of the day – that was a really grounding experience for them.”
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The two incredible driver pairings got into a somewhat similar dynamic. However, it is commendable to see how Horner managed both incidents while simultaneously building a successful team.