Axed F1 star Daniel Ricciardo's pace compared with Max Verstappen as Ferrari links made

Verstappen, Ricciardo, socials — Photo: © IMAGO

Daniel Ricciardo

Ricciardo pace compared with Verstappen as Ferrari links made

Daniel Ricciardo was sacked by VCARB midway through the 2024 season

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Wednesday 15 January 2025 21:59

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A former Formula 1 champion has suggested that Daniel Ricciardo's one-lap pace was on a par with Max Verstappen.

Verstappen is a four-time champion in the sport, and recently moved himself up to third in the all-time list of F1 race winners, as well as being one of just six racers to have won four or more world titles.

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Alternatively, Ricciardo's 2024 was not as exciting as Verstappen's, with the Aussie star suffering a dismal downturn in performance compared to team-mate Yuki Tsunoda at VCARB and eventually being axed from his role.

Ricciardo's axe marked the second time in his career that he had been released from his contract, having been sacked by McLaren back in 2022, before finding a way back into the Red Bull setup via their sister team.

Daniel Ricciardo suffered a dismal 2024 campaign

Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo were team-mates at Red Bull

Why was Ricciardo sacked?

Ricciardo's best period of his career came between 2014-2018 at Red Bull, where he claimed seven of his eight grands prix wins, and finished third in the 2014 world championship standings.

The Australian still remains the only one of Verstappen's team-mates to have beaten him in a full season, with the pair team-mates together at Red Bull between 2016-2018.

Verstappen has now managed to see off four Red Bull team-mates during his time at the team, and is about to go head-to-head with a fifth, in Ricciardo's VCARB replacement Liam Lawson.

The 2016 F1 world champion, Nico Rosberg, recently suggested that Ricciardo's one-lap pace was on a par with Verstappen, as explained the Australian's qualifying drop-off by linking him to former Ferrari drivers, Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen.

Nico Rosberg discusses Daniel Ricciardo's drop in form

"That was a strange case and we’ve seen a couple of those examples now, Sebastian Vettel also at Ferrari," he told the Sky Sports F1 podcast when he discussed drivers such as Raikkonen losing their pace.

"We see it with Daniel Ricciardo as well because Daniel was on par with Verstappen in their prime at Red Bull I mean they were really there and then it just kind of drifted away from there."