Max Verstappen: We still need a race in Africa

A few days ago f1 world champion  Max Verstappen and former Red Bull teammate Daniel Ricciardo, unveiled Red Bull Racing’s newest challenger for the 2023 F1 season. 

Fans weren’t so surprised when the car was finally unveiled, as it looked exactly the same as last year’s car.

Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo used to be teammates at Red Bull Racing from 2016 up until the 2018 Formula 1 season.

Ricciardo chose to move to Renault, which is now known as Alpine, in order to explore other possibilities in the sport.

After a brief time away from Red Bull, the Australian driver also raced for McLaren before his contract ended in December 2022.

During Red Bull’s car launch event for the RB-19, the drivers were asked about the car and their plans for tackling the upcoming 2023 F1 season. 

Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez who was also in attendance at the event, stated that he would love to race in New York. 

Meanwhile Verstappen and Ricciardo offered an entirely different answer.

When the former teammates were asked about which race they would like to see in the calendar, here is what they had to say.

"We still need a race in Africa.

 “We race in practically every other continent, so I think that would be the logical next step for F1.” Verstappen replied as per GP Blog.

Ricciardo fully concurred. The race in South Africa while back. 

However it is not on the calendar anymore but Ricciardo and Verstappen seemingly want it back.

This is not the first time that drivers have asked for a race in South Africa.

Mercedes driver and seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton has previously stated he would love to race there on multiple occasions. 

South Africa was on the F1 calendar until 1985 after which it was removed due to political tensions with Alain Prost being the last driver to ever win a race in the continent. 

But with repeated mentions from drivers, there is a slight chance that Formula 1 could add another race to its calendar.