Red Bull superstar Max Verstappen believes it was difficult to judge how good he and Carlos Sainz were when they were team-mates at Toro Rosso.
Both drivers joined Toro Rosso as rookies and had a brilliant start to their Formula 1 careers, and Verstappen moved up to the senior team replacing Daniil Kvyat who moved back to Toro Rosso after a troubled first few races to the 2016 season.
Since the move Verstappen and Sainz have excelled in their respective teams which has questioned who is the better driver.
“It was a good battle I would say and then of course it is always very positive if you are the one who gets the jump to Red Bull so that shows I did the right thing there,” Verstappen spoke to F1i.com about his relationship with Sainz.
“I think you learn a lot from it but I think in general we were both rookies so it’s difficult to really measure each other. But then once I joined this team I definitely had to up my game against Daniel [Ricciardo].
“It all went pretty smoothly, it’s not like I suddenly had to make a huge jump, you just go slowly and I was just growing into it. Especially race results are always going well and I think that’s definitely my strength.”
Verstappen has praised his relationship with Daniel Ricciardo and believes it is better than his relationship with Sainz.
“I think in general is already a good team but then once you step up to Red Bull everything is just one step better in whatever they do, which you expect from a world championship team. That’s nothing bad against Toro Rosso because they were doing the best they could with the possibilities they had.
“In the end the atmosphere in the team is also very good, I’m enjoying it. Daniel’s a great team-mate, we have a lot of respect for each other and he’s a very friendly person as well so it’s good to have a good atmosphere between the drivers.
“Also the team, they are pushing and since I joined I think Daniel and I are pushing each other to the limit, we are pushing the team forward and I think that’s very good for the whole combination.”
