Max Verstappen has delivered words of comfort to good friend Daniel Ricciardo should this weekend prove to be the Australian's last in F1.
Speculation is rife that VCARB, following a decision taken by Red Bull team principal Christian Horner and advisor Helmut Marko, will confirm next week that Liam Lawson will replace Ricciardo for the remaining six grands prix of this season ahead of being handed a permanent deal for 2025.
After it was announced the day after the Belgian Grand Prix, as F1 approached its summer break, that Ricciardo would continue for the rest of this year, it now appears as if Red Bull has opted to make the change now to give Lawson time to bed himself in.
Three-time F1 champion Verstappen has urged Ricciardo to reflect on all the positives he has achieved in his career, including seven of his eight GP wins with Red Bull, rather than how his time in F1 fell away after he left the team at the end of 2018.
Asked whether Ricciardo deserved to stay in F1, Verstappen replied: "Daniel is a great guy. I think he has proven himself as a great Formula 1 driver. He's a friend of mine.
"In general, being in this kind of position is never nice but, at the other end, I don't think he has to feel sorry for himself. Sometimes things don't work out the way you want them in certain stages of your career.
"But you still have achieved a lot more than anyone could ever dream of in their lives.
"So even if this is, let's say, the last race or whatever, you can still look back at something amazing that not many people can achieve and do something else maybe in life."
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Ricciardo to 'chill at the farm'
Verstappen feels Ricciardo has plenty of options as to his next move, suggesting the possibility of switching to "other race series", or "maybe just chill back at the farm", referring to the ranch he owns in Australia.
"Have a lot of fun," urged Verstappen. "I mean, he's a great guy. So, for me, it doesn't really matter or not if you deserve to be here. A lot of people deserve to be here. Some don't deserve to be here. That's life.
"Also, you know, in all kinds of sports, it's how it goes."
Ricciardo's VCARB team-mate, Yuki Tsunoda, echoed Verstappen's comments.
"I respect him a lot," said the Japanese, who has partnered Ricciardo for 24 races. "We'll see how it goes, but I like him.
"Obviously, we all want to see him racing as well. So yeah, it doesn't matter if he deserves it or not. The thing is, we want to see.
"But like Max said, he achieved a lot of things as well at the same time."
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