“I Beat Him, but He’s Good Fun”: Valtteri Bottas Explains Relationship With Daniel Ricciardo

It is a known fact that Daniel Ricciardo gets along with almost every F1 driver on the grid. However, the fans are yet to witness any kind of moment between the Australian and Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas. And this leads us to the question of whether the duo is even friends with each other off the track.

Well, Bottas managed to open up on the matter while responding to school kids. Mercedes F1 posted a video on social media, where kids throw interesting questions toward the Finn.

One of them came up with the question regarding the Honey Badger. He asked, “Are you friends with Daniel Ricciardo?”

What did Valtteri Bottas say?

The 9-time Grand Prix winner opened up about his relationship with Ricciardo off the track, though he denied anything special enough to call it a friendship.

Furthermore, the Finn also mentioned that his on-track rivalry with Ricciardo dates back to 2008 when he fought alongside the McLaren driver in Formula Renault.

“Kind of yeah. I mean, I’m fine with him. I’ve never really spent time with him off the track. We’ve obviously battled a lot during F1,” he said.

“And we actually raced in Formula Renault together against each other in 2008. And I beat him that year for the title. But he’s good fun,” Bottas added.

Bottas vs Ricciardo

While a lot may not be aware of this, Bottas and Ricciardo were amidst an intense rivalry during their early days in racing. It all started at the Formula Renault 2.0 2008.

The duo raced each other over 7 of the most famous circuits in Europe including Spa, Silverstone, Hungaroring, Nurburgring, and Barcelona. The entirely consisted of 14 rounds, with Ricciardo winning 6 of them. Meanwhile, Bottas managed to win 5 races.

And the duo’s rivalry boiled down to the final round of the season in Spain. And they shared the victory amongst themselves, with the first round going to Bottas while the second to the Honey Badger.

Ultimately, Bottas managed to edge past the Australian by just 3 points, lifting the title that season. And the duo parted ways after their brief rivalry. The Finn moved to Formula Three Euroseries, while Ricciardo opted for the British championship.

Five years later in 2013, Bottas and Ricciardo found themselves in the same league again. Only this time it was F1. 9 years have gone by, and they are still competing against each other, but are yet to give each other a hard time. So, will the duo manage to re-ignite their rivalry in the coming years?

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