I don't want to be a tinfoil girlie but with the amount of Maxiel I feel like both RB and Daniel are putting out feelers to see how the fans would react to him replacing checo specially because a huge chunk want Yuki or Liam. Essentially Daniel using Maxiel a bit to get RB favor (but also bc he does like max but increasing it to a deeper level) and Red Bull hoping more Maxiel content will make fans accept Daniel back in Redbull and not be mad Yuki and Liam don't get that second seat.
DISCLAIMER BEFORE YOU READ MY HOT TAKE: I LOVE DANIEL RICCIARDO MORE THAN MOST PEOPLE ON THIS WEBSITE. I HAVE LOVED DANIEL RICCIARDO LONGER THAN MOST OF YALL HAVE BEEN FANS OF THIS SPORT LMFAO. DONT COME FOR ME. anyway here's my hot take:
oh bestie. oh bestie!!!! you are 100% correct. you nailed it. you said it perfectly.
this is exactly what's happening, and i'm eating up every single crumb they want to feed me.
if you want my honest non-delusional opinion, i don't think daniel has many years left in F1. 2025 will probably be his last. not because he's done anything wrong and not because of his performance the last few years, but because he's of age and at that point in his career where everyone wants the young blood. it's not an insult to him. he's not doing anything wrong. i love daniel, i'm a daniel apologist, i have a daniel tattoo.... so don't think i'm trying to slander him. but him going back to RBR is the perfect goodbye tour for him.
i don't think he would make major moves in the rbr seat. he might outperform checo because he knows how to drive a rbr car, but i don't think it'll be anything outstanding. i don't think he'd be winning a championship with them. i don't think he'd out-perform max. but i also don't think him going back to rbr has anything to do with performance. (because if it was, i don't think they'd go with daniel.) i really think it's about letting him go out on a high with the team that he loves and regrets leaving.
it's him coming home.
it's him saying goodbye.
it's him leaving the sport the way he should have always left the sport. (because literally fuck mclaren and fuck zak brown)
BUT... if you want my DELUSIONAL opinion... HELL YEAH MAXIEL BITCHES LETS FUCKING GO NOMNOMNOMNOMNOM.
