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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Sport
Matthew Cooper

Daniel Ricciardo makes 'scared' admission about F1 event amid Max Verstappen ban

Daniel Ricciardo has admitted he is "kind of scared" about taking part in a Red Bull event that will also see Sebastian Vettel drive a Formula 1 car for the first time since his retirement.

Ricciardo, who is currently Red Bull's reserve driver following his departure from McLaren, and Vettel are set to be in action at the 'Red Bull Formula Nurburgring' event on September 9 at the iconic Nurburgring Nordschleife. Max Verstappen was hoping to join the pair at the event, but was banned from taking part by Red Bull team adviser Helmut Marko.

"I wanted to do it, but I was not allowed by Helmut," Verstappen revealed ahead of the Canadian Grand Prix. "He knew that I would try and go to the limits. I would have loved to do it. I didn't want to start unnecessary issues.

"I heard this thing was coming up, and Helmut was sitting at the table when it came up, and he said: 'No, no, no, you're not doing that.' I would have definitely given it a go [breaking the fastest lap record].

"But you need not the demo tyres and some proper tyres, which is not allowed. It's also risky to drive here - it just depends on how you hit a barrier. But that's normally not the plan of course.

"But hopefully one day I can do it. Ideally that would have been amazing in an F1 car but, if it's not allowed in an F1 car, then maybe one day in a GT3 car." Ricciardo is set to drive an RB8, while Vettel will reunited with one of his four title-winning cars.

Sebastian Vettel is set to race again in September alongside Ricciardo (Getty Images)

And Ricciardo plans to take a completely different approach to the event than the one Verstappen would have, admitting he has no plans to try and set records. "I say I'm kind of scared," he admitted on Sky Sports' The Grandstand.

"We're just going to go at our own pace - we're not trying to set any records. The Nordschleife - it's basically the craziest circuit in the world. Is it like 13 or 14 miles long or something? Dangerous and scary.

"We're doing some stuff with Red Bull there and a few F1 cars. Sebastian Vettel is doing it as well. It will be a bit of something for the fans but I guess we're going to have some fun. We're not going to go slow but I'm not going to promise any record attempts - no thanks."

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