Azerbaijan Grand Prix – Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen has refused to point the finger at teammate Daniel Ricciardo for the pair’s collision during the race in Baku.The pair had been engaged in a race long battle over P4 & P5, exchanging places on several occasions throughout the race. Ricciardo looked to have made the decisive pass on Lap 37, but he lost out again through the pitstops to trail Verstappen again. Quickly catching his teammate again, Ricciardo took advantage of Verstappen’s slipstream and moved up the inside but lost downforce and slammed into the rear of Verstappen’s RB14. Both drivers were out on the spot.
Speaking to Channel 4 afterwards, Verstappen said:
“I don’t think we need to speak who is at fault because at the end of the day we are racing for a team and representing other people but when this happens it is just not good enough for both of us,” Verstappen said after the race. As racing drivers you go for every inch and of course you are not happy when you collide as teammates but we are very fair to each other and spoke immediately after the race.
“The tow is very strong so as soon as he was in front I was catching again and we were pretty similar speeds and always very close to each other.”
“I think before that it was hard racing but fair and we gave each other space, as we had a little brush with the wheels, I think in racing that can happen. It was really disappointing for the team as we have lost a lot of points today unnecessarily.”
“I don’t think letting us not race anymore is the way forward but of course we will talk about it and see what happens.”