Max Verstappen and Lando Norris are close friends and now face the challenge of learning to race as rivals.

Lando Norris took the “simply lovely” catchphrase used by Max Verstappen after his race win at Zandvoort last time out, and Daniel Ricciardo said with a knowing laugh that his former McLaren colleague should be careful as a result, knowing how competitive Verstappen is.

In taking victory by 22.8 seconds in front of Verstappen’s home fans last weekend, Norris took to team radio to give a “simply lovely, huh?” to his race engineer, which Ricciardo believes his ex-Red Bull team-mate “would not have taken very nicely.”

Max Verstappen wouldn’t have taken ‘simply lovely’ message ‘very nicely’ – Daniel Ricciardo

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher and Sam Cooper

Ricciardo has faced both Norris and Verstappen at different times in his career, driving against the Briton more recently at McLaren after facing an up-and-coming Verstappen at Red Bull.

He was full of praise for both drivers, but while he noted the “confidence” of Norris to give that radio message on Sunday, Ricciardo knows that Verstappen will have seen that and not taken it too well – given the ultimate competitor he is.

“They both are obviously supremely talented,” Ricciardo said in Monza.

“I’ve had the pleasure of being team-mates with both of them.

“Lando, I think his confidence is growing the longer he spends time in the sport and the more success he has.

“Very confident to throw out a ‘simply lovely’ after the race. As much as they’re friends, I know how competitive Max is.

“He would not have taken that very nicely or too well, so we’ll see how he responds this weekend.”

As for his own prospects, the current VCARB driver is looking ahead to the weekend while driving for a home team, the Faenza-based squad having won the Italian Grand Prix through Sebastian Vettel in 2008 and Pierre Gasly in 2020.

Ricciardo won the race himself in 2021 in his finest drive for McLaren, and he is excited about returning to the circuit.

“I love it,” Ricciardo added to media including PlanetF1.com.

“I’ve always really loved it here. It’s special, Monza is…I don’t know, some places just carry that feeling, and this does.

“The track’s fun, the atmosphere, the park. It has a little bit of an extra feeling around here, and the Italians are, in the best way possible, crazy. So it helps the atmosphere!”