Christian Horner felt that Max Verstappen raised his game during the 2017 Formula 1 season, which meant Daniel Ricciardo had to work hard to match him, but the Red Bull Racing Team Principal says having two extremely well watched drivers is exactly what they want to have.
Ricciardo may have finished ahead in the final championship standings by thirty-two points last season, but Verstappen had the better record in Qualifying, while he finished ahead of Ricciardo more often when both drivers finished.
“Max has really upped his game, particularly on Saturday and Daniel has had to stick with it to go shoulder to shoulder with him,” said Horner to Motorsport.com.
“The margins between the two are often very small, which is exactly what you want.”
Horner says it is a pleasure to work with both Verstappen and Ricciardo, and he remains confident that the respect between his drivers remains, and that both respect that they drive for Red Bull.
“They have both raced incredibly well,” said Horner. “As a driver pairing, it’s a great pairing to be working with. Fundamentally, there is a respect between the two of them. They get on, they respect each other.
“They are rivals on track, they race hard, but they still respect they drive for a team.”
