Ricciardo slams ‘amateur’ Verstappen mistake

Daniel Ricciardo has said his “amateur” team-mate Max Verstappen can have no excuses for the Lap 1 collision that ended the Aussie’s race.

Ricciardo, who has finished on the podium in the last three years at Budapest, was forced to retire after just three corners when an aggressive Verstappen locked up at Turn 2 and understeered straight into his Red Bull team-mate.

Both managed to get the jump on Hamilton at the start, but Ricciardo picked up serious damage after the hefty shunt and spun out at the flat-out Turn 3, and was lucky not to be collected by the rest of the pack.

For sure it’s not on,” Ricciardo said in the paddock.

“It was amateur to say the least. It’s not like he was trying to pass – there was no room to pass, Valtteri was in front and I was on the outside so there was no room.

“I don’t think he likes when a team-mate gets in front.

“You’ve got the whole race to try and repair the mistake but the pass was never on. It wasn’t even a pass, it was a very poor mistake.

“The team will do their bit and I’ll do my bit. We’ll sort it out. I don’t think it’s trying too hard. There isn’t an excuse for it. He tried the outside at Turn One and all of a sudden what was a good start is a bad start.

“He sees me go past and thinks ‘I’ve got to fix this’ and then we crash.”