“It’ll Be Nice to Keep Him on My Birthday List”: With One Eye on the Championship, Daniel Ricciardo Once Took a Thinly-Veiled Dig at Max Verstappen

Daniel Ricciardo was once a force to be reckoned with. His Honey Badger instincts, while attacking the car ahead of him, were one of the primary traits that made him feared on the grid. Unfortunately, his move to Renault and McLaren didn’t work out as planned. He joined Red Bull again as their number 3 driver for next season.

Ricciardo finished 3rd in the WDC in 2016. Consequently, many expected the Aussie to challenge Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel for the championships after a great couple of seasons. But doubts started creeping into his mind after Max Verstappen replaced Daniil Kvyat after 4 races in 2016.

Before the final race in 2017, he was asked at Abu Dhabi GP’s press conference about his thoughts on challenging the young Dutch Lion. Additionally, he was asked if that would affect the internal relations in the team. Ricciardo had the perfect response for the reporter as he took a subtle dig at his former teammate.

Ricciardo replied, “It’ll be nice to keep him on my birthday list, so we’ll see. But I mean, we said at the start of the year that it would be a good problem to have, you know if we’re both fighting at the front and having some battles if it’s ultimately deciding a world title.”

“I think I’d happily run with that challenge.”

READ MORE: Daniel Ricciardo Once Went All Out to Save the Soul of F1 While Dismissing Bernie Ecclestone’s Outrageous Plans

Daniel Ricciardo eventually left the Austrian team to avoid becoming Max Verstappen’s shadow. Subsequently, he joined Renault in 2019, a decision his team principal thinks was not the right one.

Red Bull boss says Daniel Ricciardo was “stupid” to leave Red Bull the first time

Christian Horner probably knows Daniel Ricciardo better than anyone the Australian has worked with. Horner and Red Bull witnessed the Honey Badger’s glory days together and knew they had a special pairing with Daniel and Max. Moreover, the British team principal believes that Daniel Ricciardo made a stupid mistake to leave the Milton-Keynes team after 2018.

Speaking at a recent Pokerstars event, the British team principal said, “Daniel joined us as a teenager and grew up with the team here. He had some great success here winning some great Grands Prix with us and then he did something stupid and went to drive for a couple of other teams where it never went as well.”

He also stated, “Daniel is such a big personality and big character that we felt it was right to bring him back into the team, there are still things he can offer.”

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Daniel might be the number 3 driver at RBR, but he’ll hope to find a race seat next year. He’ll also wish Red Bull helps him restore his lost confidence in the process. Do you see the Australian making a comeback in F1?