The Australian was thinking back to his time working with Verstappen in the Red Bull squad.

During their time together at Red Bull, Daniel Ricciardo has identified the precise moment that he thinks former Formula 1 teammate Max Verstappen “grown.”

Though the former would triumph on debut for the squad in Barcelona, Verstappen was moved to the senior Red Bull squad before the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix to partner Ricciardo, who was now firmly established as the top one driver.

After that, the pair continued to compete in races until the end of the 2018 campaign, when Ricciardo made the decision to leave for Renault as Verstappen started to outperform his more seasoned teammate.

Although Verstappen was quick from 2016 to 2018, he also had a history of on-track mishaps, including six accidents in the opening races of the 2018 season.

The 2018 Monaco Grand Prix was Verstappen’s lowest point; on a weekend when Red Bull was best of the rest, he wrecked severely in final practise.

He was unable to participate in qualifying as Ricciardo sprinted to the front and nearly won after the ERS failed.

Verstappen recovered with a third-place finish on a quiet weekend in Canada the following time around, suggesting that his form has not slipped.

“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,” Ricciardo explained to Viaplay.

“He quickly found a way to fix that and mature a lot.

“I think in 2018 he made the biggest transition from young boy into man, with some off-track maturity.

“It made on his track results more consistent.

“To go on and see what he has done, if it can’t be me, I’m like: ‘I’m glad it’s him as at least I put up a fight to him.’

“It makes me look okay!”

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Daniel Ricciardo, F1, F1 2022, Formula 1, Grand Prix, Max Verstappen, McLaren, Red Bull