Max Verstappen: Daniel Ricciardo partnership 'ideal situation' for Red Bull

Max Verstappen

Verstappen: Ricciardo partnership 'ideal situation' for Red Bull

The pressure has been on Max this year.

Matthew Scott

Sunday 20 October 2019 17:00

Max Verstappen labelled his partnership with Daniel Ricciardo at Red Bull as the "ideal situation" as the pair could push each other one to achieve greater things on-track.

Ricciardo's departure for Renault put Red Bull into a state of turmoil as Pierre Gasly was promoted ahead of the team's anticipated schedule and the Frenchman's poor performance led to another change, with Alexander Albon replacing Gasly, who is recovering confidence back at Toro Rosso.

Albon has driven solidly since stepping up, but the rookie has had to juggle getting familiar with the senior team and learning tracks he has never driven at the highest level, leaving much of the development work with the RB15 in Verstappen's hands.

Article continues under video

And the Dutchman says having a team-mate more at his level would have benefits for him personally and Red Bull as a whole.

"[I want] someone who can be in the fight and push me to greater heights as well," Verstappen told motorsport.com.

"I think I had that ideal situation with Daniel. When I joined the team, I was of course more of a rookie and he was already there for a few years.

"Then you can learn and build up nicely, but at a certain point it also became more difficult for him, because we were very close together the whole time. "In the end this is also very important for the team. You also want someone who works in the same direction in terms of setup and wants the same things from the car. Then you can also develop the car much better.

"Then you can put the cars on different programs on a Friday, if you can rely on both drivers to get the right information. These things are very important for me, but also for the team."