F1 pundit speculates if Daniel Ricciardo will accept being a wingman for Max Verstappen at Red Bull

Former Aston Martin strategist Bernie Collins feels it will be interesting to see if Daniel Ricciardo accepts being a wingman to Max Verstappen at Red Bull. Ever since the Australian left the team in 2018, Red Bull has seen three drivers take the seat next to Verstappen, with none of them being able to get even close to the Dutchman.

In 2018, Ricciardo had also started to get consistently outperformed by Verstappen, who has continued that momentum. Talking about the possibility of the Australian replacing Sergio Perez at Red Bull, Bernie Collins questioned if a driver like Ricciardo would need to change his approach and accept that he will have to take the back seat.

“I wonder if someone like Daniel Ricardo is able to have that same mindset shift as well when we think about why he left Red Bull at the beginning. If he can have that same shift and go, ‘You know what, I’m not gunning for World Champion. I just want to be a phenomenal number two driver’. And then maybe I wonder if he will get to that,” the FI pundit said on Sky F1 podcast.

Sky F1 presenter David Croft also weighed in on the topic and said:

“I don’t know the answer. Wouldn’t that be a real shame? If he did, there would have been absolutely no reason to have left Red Bull in the first place.”

Daniel Ricciardo gets positive feedback from Christian Horner

Daniel Ricciardo did end up getting positive feedback from Red Bull boss Christian Horner for the way he jumped into the car and performed. The switch from Nyck de Vries to the Australian was a somewhat abrupt decision made by the team.

In his first two weekends, Ricciardo has certainly not looked out of place. Commending the Aussie driver on his return to the sport, Horner said:

“I thought in very difficult circumstances for him, getting dropped in the car he’d never sat in before, I thought he did very, very well. I thought, you know, to qualify, and in the top 13. He was a little unlucky at the start of the race, but then when you look at his pace, his race pace, particularly that long run on the medium tyre in the second half the race, his pace was extremely good."

It will be interesting to see what the future holds for Daniel Ricciardo as the driver is aiming big and wants to get back into a race-winning car.