Mar 11th, 2020

Mar 11th, 2020

Max Verstappen says he is open to teaming up with Daniel Ricciardo at Red Bull Racing once again, as the Australian contemplates whether or not to stay at Renault beyond his current two-year deal.

Verstappen and Ricciardo were teammates at Red Bull from 2016 to 2018 before the Australian moved to Renault, a switch that is yet to pay dividends.

While the pair had their share of testy moments during their time together, notably when they crashed out of the 2018 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, Verstappen revealed that he would gladly welcome back his former teammate.

"Yes, but it's not up to me to decide," Verstappen told Wide World of Sports when asked if he would like to have Ricciardo back in the team.

Ricciardo and Verstappen during their time together as teammates on Red Bull Racing (AAP )

"I like him and we had a really, really good time together, but I'm just not sure that it's going to happen. (The relationship) is very good.

"Even though he swapped teams, that doesn't change anything in terms of our relationship.

"We don't spend that much time together throughout the weekend, but we can still have fun and laugh so it's really good."

Ricciardo's future is very much up in the air, with the 30-year old facing a choice of whether or not to extend his time at Renault, or seek a move to one of the 'big three' in Mercedes, Ferrari or back at Red Bull.

Ricciardo's former Red Bull teammate, four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel, has also been linked with a return should he leave Ferrari.

According to an Autobild report, Red Bull's motorsport advisor, Dr Helmut Marko, suggested that Vettel had enquired about returning to the team in 2021.

Verstappen isn't thinking about becoming teammates with four-time champion Sebastian Vettel (Getty)

However, with Verstappen signed to a long-term deal, the likelihood of Vettel teaming up with Verstappen is low, and the Dutch star would not be drawn into speculating.

"It's not up to me to decide those things," he said.

"I'm also not thinking about those things too much, I just have to focus on myself and that's the most important thing."

The 22-year-old is already the owner of several 'youngest to' records in Formula One, but 2020 is his last chance to become the youngest ever world champion, breaking the record set by a 23-year-old Vettel back in 2010.

Having secured his first career top-three finish last season, all the focus is on Red Bull's Honda engine, and Verstappen says he is impressed with what he has seen thus far.

"I think we have made really great steps over the last year and to start this year so we just have to keep the momentum going because our opponents won't sit still," he said.

2020 is Verstappen's last year to break Vettel's record of being the youngest ever F1 World Champion (Getty)

"They just keep improving so we've got to do the same or even better. We need to work harder than the others and deliver better parts to the car, develop the car better, develop the engine further and those are the most critical things.

"We have done the whole program so I'm pretty happy with that. I think we've learnt a lot about the car and that's the most important.

"The reliability was good, so we did a lot of laps on the day and that's the only thing that's important in terms of testing. You don't really look too much on the lap times."

While this is the last year for him to break Vettel's record, Verstappen says his only focus is for the team to have success in 2020.

"We just want to win as a team, and if that means I'm the youngest or not, it doesn't really make a difference to me at the end of the day. We just want to win," he said.

Verstappen is confident that all the training done during the winter will lead to a successful year (AAP)

"We have been working really well throughout the whole winter and we tried a lot of things on the car so we've had a really good preparation, I just hope that it's going to be enough. It's not only down to me, the whole package needs to be quick.

"We've been working really hard to start the year better than we did last year and now it's time to find out if it's true or not."

The Australian Grand Prix sees Verstappen return to the course which saw him claim third place last season, and he explained just what makes Albert Park so special.

"I think the whole weekend in general is very nice," he said.

"It's just very exciting when all the fans are very passionate about Formula 1. The track itself has a lot of fast corners, especially the (speed) you gain in the middle of the track I think is really cool.

"Just the scenery around the park and you've got the lake in the middle so it all looks really cool."