F1 News
Marko: Verstappen "clearly edged ahead" of Ricciardo in 2018
Nicolás Quarles van Ufford
Red Bull advisor Dr Helmut Marko has taken a little swipe at his now-former driver Daniel Ricciardo, saying the Aussie is slower than Max Verstappen in both qualifying and in race pace.
Ricciardo started the season very well, winning two of the first six races and putting some serious pressure on Ferrari and Mercedes. Verstappen, on the other hand, was struggling massively at the start, almost never ending a race weekend without having either spun or crashed. The Dutchman came under fire and Ricciardo was mentioned as a potential Ferrari driver to replace Kimi Raikkonen.
After Monaco though, where Verstappen made his biggest mistake by ruining his car in FP3 and therefore ruining his chances of a pole position and a race win, the tables turned. Verstappen was incredibly quick and consistent and quite simply outdrove Ricciardo for most of the season, out-qualifying him massively in the process as well (15 to 5). The 21-year-old accumulated over ten podiums and two wins, while Ricciardo only stood on the podium twice - the two times he won.
"There is a lot of data and in qualifying the gap to Ricciardo is bigger," Marko told Motorsport Total when asked if Verstappen is now quicker.
"In the race, Max is also a bit faster.
“The strange thing is that Max sometimes slides [the car] more but still manages to keep the tyres alive. This was not the case when arrived at Red Bull but, by the second year, Ricciardo had dropped back a bit.”
In Verstappen's first season at Red Bull in 2016, as Marko says, Ricciardo beat him in both championship points and in the qualifying battle. In 2017, Ricciardo still edged out the Dutchman in the championship, but Verstappen already won in qualifying. In 2018, Verstappen finished a massive 79 points ahead of the Aussie while also beating him 15 to five in qualifying.
"Daniel recognised the problem and worked intensively with his physio and in other areas. He came back at Verstappen again. But in the second half of 2018, Verstappen clearly edged ahead.”
