Bull Fight

- Anthony Rowlinson

YEAR TWO, day one for Max and Dan and there’s helmet banter going on between the Red Bull tyros. 

They’re filling an interlude during an F1 Racing cover-shoot and the objects they’re holding are, evidently, the most engaging topic of conversation. Verstappen’s Arai has a new design and an on-trend matte finish; Ricciardo’s sticking with the tried and trusted.

The duo stand almost shoulder to shoulder, reluctantly juxtaposed like caged cats, each unable to ignore the presence of another alpha male. Team-mates, yes, but rivals first and foremost. And as a super-fast pairing for a squad tipped to emerge as true championship challengers this year, possible title contenders.

That degree of anticipation brings a certain charge to their relations – flint against steel – and while there’s no frost in the air as there was when Seb Vettel and Mark Webber had to share air for this very team, conversation is stilted rather than flowing. 

We stage an intervention. 

“Dan, is the honey badger still there?”

The honey badger, as any Dan-fan or regular F1 Racing reader will know, is an animal motif carried on the rear of Ricciardo’s helmet in homage to one of the most fierce creatures to prowl this planet. Even by the extreme standards of other bad-ass wildlife, it stands out as a bit of a nutter. As Donovan Rosevear relates in The Carnivores of West Africa, this angry beast is: “…virtually tireless in combat and can wear out much larger animals in physical confrontation.”

Not a bad totem, then, for a famously spirited racing driver noted for his ability to mount a bold attack and defend his territory with vigour.

But is Max impressed? “Is that the stinky one?” he asks, witheringly equating ‘honey badger’ with ‘skunk’.