F1 News & Gossip

Max Verstappen’s record-breaking F1 win 'hurt' Daniel Ricciardo

Chris Deeley Monday 19 January 2026 21:56

Daniel Ricciardo, Max Verstappen, Hungary, 2024

A long-time ally of Max Verstappen has claimed that Daniel Ricciardo was 'hurt' by the Dutchman's record-breaking first win.

Verstappen was promoted from Toro Rosso to partner the more senior Australian at the Spanish Grand Prix in 2016 and ended up winning the race, becoming the youngest driver in history to take a grand prix victory.

Gianpiero Lambiase, the Dutchman's long-time race engineer, has now admitted that he believes that Ricciardo was hurt by being beaten by an 18-year-old in his debut for the team.

Ricciardo complained at the time that the team had given him a worse strategy than Verstappen, but in Simon Lazenby and Damon Hill's new book Pressure, Lambiase claimed that what really hurt the Australian was knowing that he was the slower of the two Red Bulls on track anyway.

Lambiase: Ricciardo hid behind strategy

“Once the Mercedes had gone off [Hamilton and Rosberg famously collided on the opening lap] we were in a battle with the Ferraris of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen, who had started just behind us. Daniel was ahead, but Max was on his tail the whole time.

“To be able to follow a car around Barcelona with the tyre degradation that you get round there was incredible. He was all over his rear wing and proved that he was the quicker car.

"Ultimately, Daniel felt hard done by, because we put him on a three-stop strategy and Max on a two, but I think what hurt Daniel is that deep down, he knew Max was quicker and he hid behind the strategy.

“Max won the race, and it was the perfect ice-breaker, the perfect start to our relationship together.”

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Red Bull Max Verstappen F1 Daniel Ricciardo Gianpiero Lambiase