Max Verstappen wants someone to “fight and push” him at Red Bull like Ricciardo

Verstappen has had one of his best years in Formula 1 so far, taking on the mantle of team leader at Red Bull, winning in Austria and Germany and claiming his first pole position in Hungary.
 
But one thing the Dutchman has missed this season is a teammate to elevate his own racing like Ricciardo did at Red Bull, with Pierre Gasly come and gone and Alex Albon slowly making progress since his promotion.
 
Verstappen said at a Tag Heuer event in Amsterdam: “[I want] someone who can be in the fight and push me to greater heights as well.
 
“I think I had that ideal situation with Daniel. When I joined the team, I was of course more of a rookie and he was already there for a few years.
 
“Then you can learn and build up nicely, but at a certain point it also became more difficult for him, because we were very close together the whole time.”
 
The Australian left at the end of 2018 for Renault having been there for five years and Verstappen feels that competition against a teammate is better for the team.
 
“In the end this is also very important for the team,” he added.

“You also want someone who works in the same direction in terms of setup and wants the same things from the car. Then you can also develop the car much better.

“Then you can put the cars on different programs on a Friday, if you can rely on both drivers to get the right information. These things are very important for me, but also for the team.”