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Former F1 driver Daniel Ricciardo paid a hilarious homage to his former Red Bull teammate Max Verstappen's pseudonym 'Franz Hermann' in his latest viral post on social media. The Aussie driver left the sport at the end of the 204 Singapore Grand Prix after a failed bid to make his way back to Red Bull with Visa Cash App Racing Bulls F1 team last year.
The eight-time F1 race winner was close to his ex-teammate Yuki Tsunoda but was ultimately beaten by the latter in the races and qualifying. He was replaced by Liam Lawson for the final six races of the 2024 season.
Amidst reports of him making a comeback to the sport with Cadillac next year, Daniel Ricciardo shut down rumors and claimed that he was done with F1 for good. Ever since leaving F1, Ricciardo has kept his distance from social media and rarely engages with his fans online.
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However, in his recent post on Instagram, which went viral and had over 129k likes in the first hour, he was seen riding his car on his farm in Perth and paid tribute to Max Verstappen in a hilarious manner, writing:
"Frank Hermann."
The pseudonym 'Franz Hermann' was used by Max Verstappen in his recent appearance, testing Emil Frey Racing's Ferrari 296 GT3 car in DTM. When he was asked about the reason behind using the pseudonym 'Franz Hermann', he told Motorsport.com in Imola:
"They asked me for a fake name, so I said let's make it as German as we can. Then you're not on the entry list. Otherwise, people woke up at 8am knowing that my name is on it; I knew that once I was there that people would realise. It's normal. But at least I wasn't on the entry list. So at least at 8, 9 am it was pretty calm."
Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo shared a close bond as teammates in Red Bull from 2016 to 2018.
When Max Verstappen commented on his dynamic with Daniel Ricciardo
Red Bull driver Max Verstappen previously stated that he and Daniel Ricciardo have had a "great" dynamic on and off the track ever since the former joined the Austrian team in 2016.
Speaking with F1.com in Singapore last year, Verstappen spoke highly of the Aussie and said:
“Daniel and I, of course, go a long way back. We have always had a great relationship, great friendship, and a lot of respect for each other as well, so he’s just a great guy.
“[We] get on well, it just clicks. There is no fake person; we just get along and are easy-going, we are like that. He will for sure be remembered as a very fast driver, I think everyone knows that, but also as a great guy in the paddock.”
Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen continued with their close bond even after the former left Red Bull after 2018 and often hung out in the F1 paddock frequently.
