Ricciardo takes pride in denying Verstappen F1 pole record

Daniel Ricciardo says he can “still take some pride” from the fact he stopped Max Verstappen from becoming Formula 1’s youngest-ever polesitter.

While teammates with Verstappen at Red Bull, Ricciardo denied the Dutchman the chance of creating F1 history during qualifying for the 2018 Mexican Grand Prix after pipping him to pole.

Verstappen finally ended his 93-race streak without a pole position at this weekend’s Hungarain Grand Prix as he beat both Mercedes drivers to top Saturday’s qualifying session at the Hungaroring.

“I am still proud that I stopped Max from getting pole in Mexico! Because he is not the youngest any more, right? So I’ll still take some pride in that,” he said.

“They [Red Bull] certainly do come on as the year goes on, and they seem to make a step even when you feel that they are a bit down and out, at times they really do put on a big update.

“I watched the onboard of Max and it looked pretty planted, and with the Honda they are doing well.”

Exactly one year on from announcing his decision to leave Red Bull for Renault, Ricciardo finds himself 18th on the grid for this year’s Hungarian Grand Prix, while Verstappen is at the head of the field.

Despite admitting he would rather be in Verstappen’s position, Ricciardo insisted he has no regrets about his move.

“Today is a big contrast of where I am and where he is, so I don’t want to say that’s hard to take, but I’d rather be where he is than where I am,” he added.

“But equally I still don’t regret anything 12 months down the track. I knew that today I am 18th and I really believed we’d be in the top 10, so it wouldn’t look as bad as it does now.”