Footage has emerged of Daniel Ricciardo’s reaction when he first saw former Red Bull teammate Max Verstappen sporting his old race number.
The pair attended Red Bull’s Ford launch last month in Detroit, Verstappen as one of the Formula 1 team’s F1 2026 drivers and Ricciardo as a new Ford ambassador.
Daniel Ricciardo reacts as Max Verstappen sports new F1 race number
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A video of the moment has been unearthed and the easy friendship between the two was clear to see.
Verstappen tapped Ricciardo on the shoulder when he spotted him and the two shared a hug, with the Australian teasing: “I know those soft hands.”
Verstappen replied: “That’s a bit scary,” before explaining a bit about his skincare routine.
As the conversation continued, Ricciardo noticed the number ‘3’ on Verstappen’s cap.
“C’est magnifique,” he said.
Ricciardo had previously revealed that Verstappen approached him at last year’s United States Grand Prix in Austin to ask, if he lost the title, he could take over the number three.
The Honey Badger still technically had the right to the number having made his last F1 appearance in September 2024.
At the time it looked almost certain that Verstappen would lose the number one to McLaren as he trailed Oscar Piastri by 40 points and Lando Norris by 26 heading into the final five races of the season.
But a hat-trick of victories to close out the season meant Verstappen only fell short by two points to Norris.
But it was nonetheless a defeat, and the Dutch racer handed the number one over to Norris and took up Ricciardo’s number three for the F1 2026 championship.
Ricciardo told GQ Sports: “It’s good. I got to see Max recently.
“The number three thing is quite cool. It’s a cool story for us and also fans of F1 who supported Max and I when we were teammates.
“So when I caught up with Max in Austin and when he mentioned he wanted to take number 3, of course I was very, very happy to say yes, because otherwise I think he would have had to wait one more year.
“It’s a pleasure for me to pass that number on to him now.”
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