Ricciardo would call on Verstappen and Vettel for Le Mans. Smart man, laughs Max
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Daniel Ricciardo appeared on the latest episode of the Beyond the Grid podcast. The Australian revealed that the time was not yet right for a return to motorsport, but admitted he was interested in Le Mans. He would choose two former team-mates to join him.
Ricciardo is enjoying his time away after leaving Formula 1. He is looking after his farm, building his Enchanté clothing brand and representing Ford as an ambassador. He has no plans to return to competition just yet, but Le Mans appeals to him.
“I don’t want to put pressure on him, but obviously Max is a name that would be high on the list,” Daniel Ricciardo replied when asked who he would pick for his team. “We talked about Red Bull obviously in 2018, and what if, and what if… I was trying to get back at the team at the end of my career, so maybe that’s a way that we could give the people what they want.”
He could also envisage another former Red Bull driver joining the line-up: Sebastian Vettel. “There’s no denying that he still is extremely fast and would be fast in anything. So that’s an interesting one. I frickin’ love Seb, so that could be a nice little Red Bull reunion of sorts!” he laughed.
Verstappen’s name is regularly linked with a potential appearance at the Le Mans 24 Hours. He certainly will not be short of potential team-mates, though. “He’s a smart man to choose me in the car,” he said in response to Ricciardo’s proposed line-up.
Fans will have to wait for anything like that, however. “It just depends on a lot of things for me, like if I want to do it, I want to do it proper with really good prep. At the moment I cannot do that. I do not have the free time to dedicate to a Le Mans project with all the other things I’m doing outside of Formula 1.”
Ricciardo’s interest in a one-off return to racing comes as no surprise to him. “This is not new to me of course! From my side or his [Ricciardo’s] side, I don’t think we are the types that always need to share everything. We talk about a lot of things in the background. I think he said it himself, he doesn’t see himself coming back for a whole season. The one-offs can interest him. Why not?”
“If we do something like that – he would agree, it needs to be proper and to have a chance to win. And to have a chance to win against people that do it for a whole season you need to be prepared really well. Just need to find the right timings,” he added.