Daniel Ricciardo has revealed that pressure from Red Bull Racing team-mate Max Verstappen caused him to sometimes overdrive during their near-two seasons together at the Milton Keynes-based team.
The Australian has finished ahead in the championship in both seasons, but the Dutchman has three victories to his name to his two in that time, and Verstappen also had the better of Ricciardo in qualifying in 2017.
“I would say it’s pushed me more than anything,” said Ricciardo to Motorsport.com. “Sometimes, like in Budapest, there were a couple of races where I overdrove.
“I felt it was there and I tried to get too much out of it. But then that’s on me. I should know what the limit is and what I need to do to put the lap together. Sometimes I have tried a bit too hard.”
Verstappen feels he has had the better of Ricciardo despite not being able to beat the Australian in the points table, and he heads into the new season eager to keep the upper hand.
“So far I have always been able to beat my team-mate,” said Verstappen, also to Motorsport.com. “It may not show in the point standings, but in general I’ve always been ahead.
“I never really looked at other drivers because, of course, you can look at what they are doing, but in the end you are still a different person, so you always need to focus on yourself and on what you can do better.
“I just drove the best laps that I could. And if it turned out to be faster than him, then that’s fine, of course. I personally think that it’s because I gained more experience that it was just a bit more difficult for him to get close to me.”
