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Daniel Ricciardo believes Max Verstappen flipped the switch and completely transformed himself in the 2018 F1 season.
According to the Australian, Verstappen had already proven himself to be a fast driver by then. However, he lost out on two crucial race wins in China and Monaco (both of which were won by Ricciardo).
Ricciardo feels those were the races that saw Verstappen mature off the track. He said the Dutchman probably realized that he could not continue making the same mistakes and transformed into a more consistent performer.
Explaining the moment of transformation in an interview with Viaplay, Daniel Ricciardo said:
"He already kind of proved his speed from 2016, if not earlier, but in 2018, I remember the first four or five races he had crashes and quite a lot of mistakes. He quickly found a way to fix that and matured a lot. I think in 2018, he made the biggest transition from young boy into man, with some off-track maturity."
Alpine should sign Daniel Ricciardo: Christian Horner
Red Bull boss Christian Horner recently stated that if he was the Alpine boss, he would sign Daniel Ricciardo.
Ricciardo has slightly lost his way at McLaren. However, Horner believes a driver of his caliber can be rebuilt with confidence and backing. He said:
"I think I probably would, to be honest with you. They obviously know him from a couple of seasons ago and he was very together during his last season there, scoring podiums, and I think he’s the type of guy that you could rebuild him."
Horner stressed that all Ricciardo needed was a reset and that he could get it at Alpine. He said:
"It’s obviously been not a great experience for him [at McLaren] for whatever reason and you just have to think back to some of the drives he did for us, some of the wins he had, the podiums, some of the stunning overtakes he was capable of. That’s still in there, I’m sure, and it just needs a bit of a reset."
Ricciardo's future in F1 has been one of the hottest topics this season. The driver was considered elite when he joined McLaren. However, after two years with the team, he's left with no viable options to stay on the grid.
