{"id":228524,"date":"2025-10-20T22:45:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-20T22:45:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/228524\/"},"modified":"2025-10-20T22:45:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-20T22:45:09","slug":"f1-news-ricciardo-weighs-in-on-verstappens-title-charge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/228524\/","title":{"rendered":"F1 news: Ricciardo weighs in on Verstappen\u2019s title charge"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Ricciardo
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDaniel Ricciardo with Max Verstappen during their time at Red Bull in 2018. Image: XPB Images<\/p>\n

Verstappen dominated in Austin, taking both the Sprint<\/a> and grand prix wins<\/a> to move within 40 points of championship leader Oscar Piastri.<\/p>\n

And as the Dutchman surged into the lead early in Sunday\u2019s race, Ricciardo couldn\u2019t resist a trademark quip.<\/p>\n

\u201cMeanwhile, Max is contacting the restaurant about his steak cooked medium rare for later tonight,\u201d he joked, before adding: \u201cHaha, yeah, Max is ridiculous. Kid\u2019s so good. Yes, I\u2019m stating the obvious, I know.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 36-year-old \u2014 who partnered Verstappen at Red Bull from 2016 to 2018 \u2014 was full of admiration for his former teammate\u2019s form this season, admitting Verstappen\u2019s late charge has reignited the title battle.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, Max is really keeping this championship even more exciting than it already was with Oscar and Lando,\u201d Ricciardo said.<\/p>\n

His remarks came after Verstappen\u2019s fifth win of the season, a result that has put him firmly back in contention for a fifth straight world title<\/a>.<\/p>\n

With Piastri struggling to match his early-season pace, Verstappen\u2019s relentless form has transformed what once looked like a runaway championship.<\/p>\n

Ricciardo also turned his attention to others on the grid, praising Charles Leclerc\u2019s defence against Lando Norris \u2014 \u201cCharles still holding on is so impressive\u201d \u2014 and backing Yuki Tsunoda after another strong weekend that included seventh in both the sprint and Grand Prix.<\/p>\n

\u201cTsunoda\u2019s had another good first few laps,\u201d Ricciardo said.<\/p>\n

\u201cTwo days in a row, he\u2019s coming through nicely.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rumours around Tsunoda\u2019s future have intensified, with Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko set to make a decision after the Mexican Grand Prix<\/a> on whether the Japanese driver will stay in the senior team.<\/p>\n

Ricciardo, who raced alongside Verstappen and later for Red Bull\u2019s sister outfit, showed sympathy for Tsunoda amid the uncertainty.<\/p>\n

Now happily out of the cockpit, Ricciardo was also asked about the prospect of a comeback \u2014 but quickly shut it down with a laugh.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy neck ain\u2019t so strong anymore, haha. No more neck training, thank the lord, haha, I hated that part,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd the neck, it\u2019s so intense that first sector.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Daniel Ricciardo with Max Verstappen during their time at Red Bull in 2018. Image: XPB Images Verstappen dominated…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":228525,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[64,63,827,817,813,816,825,7499,85,129597],"class_list":["post-228524","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-daniel-ricciardo","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-max-verstappen","tag-slot4","tag-sports","tag-united-states-gp"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228524","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=228524"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228524\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/228525"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=228524"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=228524"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=228524"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}