Daniel Ricciardo will be joining Max Verstappen and the red bull family as the third driver this season onwards.
Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo are again back together. Although this time the duo is not together as teammates.
After enduring a tough 2022 season, McLaren sacked Daniel Ricciardo replacing the Australian with his counterpart Oscar Piastri. The Australian ultimately ended up taking a break from the sport. Ricciardo took up the role of the third driver this year rejoining his former team red bull.
The Australian will participate in various duties like the reserve role, development, and commercial activities.
Regardless, Max Verstappen who is a keen sim racer in his free time has made a few things clear. The Dutchman has asserted that the development work that is conducted on the simulators for every Grand Prix will be done by him only. He clarified that he doesn’t want Ricciardo to do that work for him.
Adding to this, the now two-time world champion has made it clear that he will be a major part of the development team.
“I think our simulator is one of the best in the industry,”
Verstappen told Speedweek.
“We feed in data from the vehicle that we collected on the racetrack. Of course, the congruence between simulation and reality is not perfect.“
“The days are very long, but I am convinced that this work is worth it.“
“I also don’t want a test driver to take care of the simulation as other racing teams do. I want to do it myself because everyone has their own driving style.”
Verstappen and Ricciardo earlier raced together as teammates for Red bull only.
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