Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen go way back in Formula One. There was quite a lot of friction between the two racers after the 2018 Azerbaijan Grand Prix crash, but things got back to normal shortly after Ricciardo parted ways with the Milton Keynes outfit. The recent incident, the Japanese Grand Prix 2024, was a different story altogether.

On the contrary, it looks like Daniel Ricciardo helped Max Verstappen win the race. But you must be wondering, how? The Honey Badger was out of the race in the first turn; then how did he benefit Max Verstappen, who was far ahead of the action? Recently, Red Bull sporting director Helmut Marko spoke exclusively to Speedweek about Ricciardo’s contribution to Verstappen’s victory. And you’ll be surprised to know what he revealed.

Was it the accident that led to Verstappen’s victory?

In a segment posted by Speedweek, Helmut Marko revealed his take on the occurrences of the Japanese Grand Prix. Talking of Daniel Ricciardo and Alex Albon’s initial contact leading to the safety car being called and the race restarted, and how this benefited Verstappen, he said, “For Max, the setting of the front wing turned out to be critical, also caused by the higher temperatures on Sunday.”

Explaining the pre-race delima, Helmut Marko explained, “Max wanted more wings, his race engineer, Gianpiero (GP) Lambiase, wanted less.” But ultimately, things worked out for Verstappen. “Because the race was stopped, we were in the fortunate position of being able to adjust it,” said Marko. The fact that the defending champion made adjustments to make his single-seater more comfortable highly impacted his performance and helped him lead the race.

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This ultimately led him to victory, and to connect the dots, Marko further added, ” Indirectly, you could say that Ricciardo helped Verstappen, because from the restart everything was fine for Max.” While this benefited Verstappen, Daniel Ricciardo put himself out of the race, making things all the more difficult for him as he is at risk of losing his spot on the grid next year.

What will the Racing Bulls do about Daniel Ricciardo?

Good news for Ricciardo fans, as VCARB is not planning on replacing him for the upcoming Chinese Grand Prix. But some replacements are in order, revealed his racing director, Alan Permane. According to Motorsport.com, Permane is set to give Ricciardo a new chassis for his car. Despite not believing that it will make a difference, he has decided to rule out every aspect of the car that is preventing Ricciardo from performing.

After the recent accident, there is all the more reason to change the chassis for Daniel Ricciardo, but the same will not be done for Yuki Tsunoda. Explaining his decision, Permane said, “It makes sense at all levels to give that to Daniel, not least that Yuki is super happy and super comfortable where he is. We don’t have a preference on drivers.”

Further justifying his decision, the racing director added, “With Daniel maybe it’s good for him to just put that completely to bed, that there any there any issues with the car.” So far, there is no news about the team wanting to replace Ricciardo, just a lot of rumors. We would like you to let us know your thoughts on this in the comments below. Will Ricciardo need to find a new team next year, or will he continue with VCARB?

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