Ex-teammates Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen seem to be always find their way back to each other. When the Australian racer had his first encounter with the reigning World Champion, it was back in 2016. At that time, Verstappen was only a Red Bull rookie who stepped into the team as a replacement for Daniil Kvyat right ahead of the Russian GP. Since then, Ricciardo and Verstappen had several neck-and-neck fights, nevertheless firing up the competition between them.

In the 2018 season, Daniel Ricciardo had some ugly crashes and suffered public scrutiny since Max Verstappen became the better Red Bull scorer. In the end, the Aussie abruptly took up a high-paying Renault offer and left the Austrian squad. But after moving to Renault, then McLaren, and even Visa CashApp Racing Bulls, the Honey Badger is back in contention for the Red Bull seat beside Max. And there have been some recent instances where Daniel Ricciardo has even supported his former teammate, indicating a revival of their past bromance.

At the Silverstone Circuit, as the Perth native prepared for his British GP outing, he gave a podcast interview where he answered the question of how Max Verstappen likes to party. Ricciardo answered to The Red Flag podcasters, saying, “He loves GNTs!” Thus, the Dutchman’s preference for hard beverages came out in the open when the podcasters showed Daniel Ricciardo a short video of him partying with Max. However, the Aussie does not just stop at that as he reveals ‘the other side’ of Red Bull’s Dutch lion that is unknown to most people.

Reflecting on how Daniel Ricciardo’s on-track rivalry with Max Verstappen has evolved and how he is comfortable speaking about the Dutchman’s personal things, the #3 racer said, “I think this is where I guess I’m quite comfortable speaking about Max. Yeah, like, we had all that rivalry, but that’s just what Max is like as a competitor. But it’s not necessarily him as an individual. Yes, he’s intense, but off the track, he’s a pretty normal kid, who does pretty normal things. Like, we’ve all got our quirks.”

But this is not the first time Ricciardo has attempted to paint Max as a human being who is not a ruthlessly competitive person at all times. A few days ago, the 35-year-old defended Max against the backlash he received for his clash with Lando Norris at the Austrian GP.

Daniel Ricciardo does not agree with people ‘hammering’ Max Verstappen

The events of the Austrian GP are still reeling in the minds of all F1 fans because they got to see a huge facedown between Lando Norris and Max Verstappen. As the current Drivers’ Championship leader was running at the front of the pack, the McLaren prodigy attacked him from the second spot to usurp him. But while trying to defend his position, Verstappen left too little space for Lando Norris, and this caused a collision between them. The contact between their cars led to Norris retiring from the race as Max met with an FIA penalty and heavy criticism for his rash driving.

However, Daniel Ricciardo believes the critics have been weighing down too much on Max Verstappen. The Aussie came to support his ex-teammate as he heard some comments comparing Max’s crash with Lando this season with the Dutchman’s contests against Lewis Hamilton in 2021. The Honey Badger thus said, “I think referencing something a few years ago… like it sounds like people are probably hammering Max a bit. I don’t know, it sounds like it’s probably blown a little bit out of proportion.”

While Ricciardo believes there is no basis for Max Verstappen to get so much criticism, the 3-time World Champion’s previous rival, Lewis Hamilton stayed quiet about the whole matter. In fact, Lando Norris even dragged the Mercedes driver for his silence. But that is all in the past as Lando replaced his Austrian GP woes with a brilliant P2 finish at his home race in Silverstone last weekend. And in the upcoming week, perhaps another podium in Hungary awaits him.

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