Max Verstappen admits to ‘copying’ ex-teammate Daniel Ricciardo’s steering wheel design

Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo were teammates at Red Bull between 2016-2018.


Max Verstappen admits to ‘copying’ ex-teammate Daniel Ricciardo’s steering wheel design

Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo (via Imago)

Max Verstappen, the reigning F1 world champion, has been competing with Red Bull since 2016. He has over the years gone on to hone his skills and today, is considered one of the best drivers on the grid. While the 2024 season is just around the corner, he has taken the time to admit that since joining the Bulls, he has been using ex-teammate, Daniel Ricciardo‘s steering wheel design.

In 2016, when Max Verstappen joined Red Bull, Daniel Ricciardo was the driver alongside him. Moreover, being relatively inexperienced at that time, he took Ricciardo’s steering wheel design philosophy and it has since stuck with him.

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While shedding light on the same recently, he said, as reported by Motorsport:

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When you come to a new team, you look at what your teammate who has been there for a while has and you start with that, it's the logical thing. When I arrived at Red Bull eight years ago, I basically adopted this design from Daniel [Ricciardo], and it hasn't changed much since then. Yeah, I  copied it all from him.

The 26-year-old has made it quite clear that Ricciardo’s steering wheel design during their time together, has worked wonders for him. Moreover, Verstappen has honestly admitted that he copied everything that was on the Australian’s steering wheel back then.

Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen’s F1 career has followed the opposite trajectories

While Max Verstappen has admitted to copying Daniel Ricciardo’s steering wheel design, since the latter departed from Red Bull at the end of 2018, things have panned out very differently for both of them. After an initial burst, Ricciardo’s career trajectory has taken a massive dip.

Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen
Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen (via IMAGO).

Verstappen, on the other hand, has gone from strength to strength at Red Bull and has so far managed to amass a sensational three world championships. Daniel Ricciardo is now trying to get back into the Red Bull setup and is thus, seeing the upcoming campaign with VCARB (AlphaTauri) as a launching pad in that direction.

Since finding a spot back on the F1 grid, the 34-year-old has made it quite known that he is targeting the 2025 seat at Red Bull. The drive is currently in possession of the former six-time Grand Prix winner, Sergio Perez whose current deal is slated to come to a close at the end of this year. 2024 holds immense significance for the ‘Honey Badger.

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