Despite completing a marathon season in which he won 19 races, Max Verstappen was back behind the wheel of a race car for a special event in Japan over the weekend.
Granted, he was in a go-kart, not an F1 car, but it was far from a comfortable afternoon for the three-time world champion, with Daniel Ricciardo mostly responsible for that.
Verstappen, Ricciardo, Sergio Perez and Yuki Tsunoda took part in the Honda Racing ‘Thanks Day’ karting event, with the company a major sponsor for their Red Bull and AlphaTauri teams.
But Ricciardo was unwilling to let Verstappen enjoy yet another leisurely drive. The Australian was seen cutting a corner bore shunting into the side of the Dutchman’s car, sending him into a spin.
The rest of the field passed the Red Bull star, ending his chance of victory.
week 1 without f1: me watching karting and seeing daniel hitting maxpic.twitter.com/xCXy2vG9yg
— clara (@leclercsletters) December 3, 2023
Max Verstappen jokingly branded Daniel Ricciardo a ‘terrorist’ in Japan
The Formula One stars took part in a go karting event but it was chaos
Verstappen and Ricciardo are good friends and could race together for Red Bull
max: “it went quite well but then daniel decided to be a terrorist, he was literally trying to kill everyone out there..”
MAX 😭😭😭😭😭 pic.twitter.com/5qF7MkVSIW
— nini (@SCUDERIAFEMBOY) December 3, 2023
Ricciardo continued corner cutting for the rest of the race but Verstappen managed to catch up with him. This time, it was fair racing as Perez took the chequered flag, with Ricciardo second Verstappen third.
‘It went quite well but then Daniel decided to be a terrorist,’ Verstappen joked after the race.
‘He was literally trying to kill everyone out there.’
‘It’s great to see so many fans here again,’ he added ‘Thank you everyone for coming.’
Ricciardo added: ‘We are actually a bit used to this because when we race in Japan there is always a very big group of loyal fans. It was great today.’
