Ok i must know, top five maxiel touch moments? The podium neck grab is my no. 1
You must know, nonnie, and I must answer :) Thank you for the question! Let's go <3
note: these are in no particular order!
the first: the podium neck grab (2017)
I figure it's worth starting here, with the one you so helpfully shared as your number one. This is, in my opinion, a rare moment of Daniel being physically possessive of Max in public. I think Daniel tends to lean more into verbal possessiveness/casual dropping in conversation how he knows Max best (see: his comments regarding the "simply lovely" fiasco of last year lol)
So this moment. This is one of those times where early on in Daniel and Max's relationship, Daniel's carefully wrought control over "no homo"-ing the hell out of him and Max broke. And you might say "wait, doesn't he always do that?" and I'd say "you'd be mostly correct, but back then it was practically a thing of legends." (trust, before the 2021 cape wearing declaration of love, Daniel's attempts to completely ignore the simmering tension or "bro" out his moments with Max were something else.)
Anyway. As evidenced here, sometimes the man couldn't help himself from the cookie. So what we've got here is Mark Webber (the guy who Daniel replaced at Red Bull when he retired and a fellow Aussie), making a physical grab at Max's shoulder/neck area. It's toeing the line of intimate touch, and what you've got is a Max caught off guard. Please observe the way he steps back away from Mark (and subsequently closer to Daniel). And what you've also got is a possessive teammate in the form of said Daniel Ricciardo.
He just. Reaches out. And touches Max's neck. No mistaking that kind of touch and squeeze, that is intimacy at its finest. And what really dials it up a notch? Max has no initial reaction to this. A little look back, a little smile but he keeps talking, as though this is a perfectly natural thing for Daniel to be doing, as though that's a perfectly natural place for Daniel's hand to be. As though it's not the first time.
When Daniel squeezes his neck further, initiating it into more comedy territory, that is when Max has a reaction where he stops talking, giggles and turns around to an absolutely beaming Daniel who proceeds to take his hand off Max's neck, hover for a second, and then do another very gentle, definitely not comedic effect squeeze.
Game, set, match. If anyone were in doubt of Daniel's feelings towards Max, they shouldn't have been. Man was practically stamping Mine on Max's forehead (much to Max's joy. Pretty sure that went immediately into his spank bank 1000.)
the second: post Singapore padel date (2024)
Okay so I'm cruising by the logistics of this entire thing (as in Daniel being in Monaco in the first place, how we even found out about the padel date) to just focus on the moment of touch. Because truly, that's what it's all about.
This is a quiet moment. It's intimate and familiar. It's the touch of two people who have been together for a long, long time, who know each other well and are comfortable sharing space. Something I come back to: Daniel, clearly nervous, fidgeting with the end of his padel racket. Max, coming up behind him, glancing down to Daniel's side, tapping him with his own racket. The quiet, steady support. The unspoken "it's okay, I'm here with you."
I think about Max and Daniel meeting post Singapore often. Because, I think, it would have been very understandable for Daniel to cut Max out of his life. Easy? No, I doubt it. Understandable? Yes. Max and Red Bull are synonymous with each other after all. And Max was, almost certainly, going to be a four time world champion. Daniel, on the other hand, had just been wrongfully fired by the very people who he thought would keep him safe. His entire fairy tale ending had collapsed and you had F1 fans, journalists and Red Bull themselves rewriting his entire history in the sport, acting like he was a nobody, who only had a few good years in him.
What I mean to say is, it would also have made a lot of sense to me if Daniel was embarrassed. If he wanted to hide himself away and certainly if he felt like he wasn't good enough to face, you know the Max Verstappen.
But that's not what happened. What happened is this: Max and Daniel met up for padel, and Daniel travelled specifically back to Monaco for no other reason that we know of then to hang out with Max. And we got this little moment because there was a documentary that was filming with another driver from rally who Max happened to know.
And perhaps this is the crux of this moment for me: it's a glimpse into how Max and Daniel most assuredly are in private (I would argue they're even more touch focused in private tbh.) It isn't at all something done for the cameras or the audience (whomever that may be) that is watching. It is simply, organically, them. It's the reason why a lot of other PR sanctioned teammate pairings (or former teammates, or whatever) don't work in the same way. Because the teams and the audience are pushing them so hard, anything that's genuine gets lost in the shuffle of "lights, camera, action!" that we have these days.
Max and Daniel simply exist in sincerity with each other. Max would have touched Daniel with that racket whether a camera was filming them or not. Daniel would have been grateful for the reminder that Max was there with him, able to give full laughter over to the moment whether a camera captured it or not.
the third: first double podium hug in Malaysia (2016)
Ah, yes okay. So the reason I'm including this moment is because it's simply a work of art.
When I first saw pictures of this hug, I legit thought I was looking at a painting. The composition of the moment is of such, that it looks like an official photoshoot really. And yet, it's not, it's just two teammates who have just had their first of a handful of double podiums.
The thing about this hug that stands out for me, is that this is Max and Daniel's first year as teammates. Not even a full year either because Max got pulled into the Red Bull halfway through said year. So, in the same time frame of them trying to get to know each other and figure out what the other is like, what makes them tick, what their boundaries are, they go and do this (which is partially thanks to Merc troubles but shhh.)
Friendly reminder that we have a video of Daniel instructing others on how to hug him properly. Friendly reminder that he distinctly says he wants two arms around him, not just one. He likes to be hugged with both arms and likes to be hugged tightly. He wants to feel the hug.
When you think about that, and you look at this, and you remember that Max was so young, and a bit unsure of how to approach physicality with Daniel, it's enough to send me gnawing at the bars of my enclosure. Because Max? He just goes for it. He is putting his arms around Daniel, pulling him in, ready to put his head on his shoulder except their helmets are in the way. He's got those eyes watching anyone around like a hawk. A burgeoning echo of possessive Max emerging.
And Daniel? He goes with it. He's right there, bringing their bodies together, giving Max a pat on the back while holding him steadily with his other arm, essentially allowing Max to cling to him.
Foundational to the Max/Daniel thesis I would say. An early on glimpse of dynamics and possibilities that stretched endlessly into the future.
the fourth: possessive max at his finest (2019)
Unlike Daniel, Max is more of the physically possessive type, often initiating touches to showcase that Daniel is his guy and everyone else should just back off for their own good.
Why this is one of my faves is because it's set in the year directly following their RBR teammate era. This is when they were having to get to know each other again, when their relationship, one could argue, was at a crossroads: either it would deepen and their bond would become irrevocable or they would plateau out, become distant, a coworkers but not real friends kind of feel. Obviously, we know how it went, but I imagine in 2019, for both Max and Daniel it was a time of rediscovering what was okay and not okay. Whether their relationship was an actual friendship that wasn't just forged by being teammates together, yk?
Max's hand placement in this entire moment kills me. He moves his hand multiple times to get a better grip on Daniel, especially anytime Daniel looks like he might break away. I especially noticed the way Max put his hand closer to Daniel's neck area, so a tighter grip, when he was joking with Daniel about saying he didn't miss him. And then he lets his hand relax, only for when Daniel starts swaying with the force of more laughter (because oh hey this was back in the day where you could swear and you wouldn't get fined, everyone would just have a laugh about it), to grab him tightly again and have Daniel sway into him more.
And as I said in my original tags on the post, I actually think what makes this sooo good is that I am nearly certain it's completely unconscious on Max's part. This is just what he does with Daniel-this kind of outward physical touch to show others that they're a unit, different team or not. There's no qualms about having Daniel in his personal space, because to Max, that's just where he belongs.
And Daniel, for his part, seems pretty keen on the idea himself ("I love the Dutch" oh yeah, Daniel we know.)
the fifth: Abu Dhabi hug (2022)
This is it. This is the hug. This is, I think, my most reblogged post out of all of them, because every time I see it, I reblog it, without fail.
This is impossible to sum up into words.
As a writer, you'd think I'd be able to grasp something for this touch and yet it feels like it all escapes me when I try. Because what do you say in the face of such obvious care and tenderness? What do you say in the face of one man finding his comfort in another? Another who he's known the entirety of the time he's been in F1. And now this: sure, they both knew Daniel was going back to Red Bull, but there was no certainty Daniel would drive again. This really could have been it.
In a way perhaps it was inevitable then, that this was the culmination of all of it. Max, reaching with both arms to welcome Daniel, his weight, his presence, his relief at the season being done, and Daniel snuggling in and up. Taking a moment that is all too real to cuddle close while Max simply stays, an anchor. It is that, that I think is poignant: Max lets Daniel call the shots. For all of his possessive behaviour I talked about previously, he lets Daniel make the joke, get out of the moment. But before that, he grips, learned through the years and with more muscle on him than ever before, tightly. Lets Daniel feel it, just like he likes. He holds steady while he tells the reporters there'd be nothing wrong with him and Daniel kissing (accidentally or on purpose I'm sure) and even if the full weight of Daniel leaning on him is a lot, he doesn't budge. Daniel for his part, closes his eyes, takes the second that is to just breathe in Max, to know how Max feels, to not feel flayed alive by reporters or by the cameras witnessing this moment because it's really just him and Max, as it always has been. As it always will be.
And maybe that's the thing about Max and Daniel even now: somehow, they feel inevitable. You can't separate them for good, because they will come back together, again and again, through hugs and instagram videos and padel dates. That red string of fate really does work overtime on them both. But hey, I think they like it that way.
