Livid Verstappen Speaks on Red Bull Crash in Baku

To say that the Azerbaijan GP was entertaining, would be an understatement. 39 laps into the race, there was plenty of nail-biting wheel-to-wheel action. And then came the Red Bull crash.

Red Bull duo Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo squandered a double points-haul in Baku with an “unnecessary” collision.

The team-mates battled tooth and nail throughout the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, even go so far as to trade paintjobs at one stage.

In the pit stop phase, Verstappen got the jump on Ricciardo and it was the Aussie’s turn to chase hard.

Ricciardo faked a left and then flicked the car towards the right, dummying Verstappen, who responded with a double block.

That was when the team-mates collided and it was race over for both of them.

“Really disapointing for the team, we lost a lot of points today, unnecessarily,” said Verstappen.

“I don’t think we need to speak about who’s fault. We are racing for a team, representing a lot of people and this happens, it’s just not good for both of us.

“The tow was very strong, so as soon as he was in front I was catching up again. We were pretty similar speed and always very close. I think before that it was hard racing but fair.

“We gave each other space. What happened afterwards is not good.”

Red Bull will now have to clear the air between the two drivers at a fairly awkward team meeting. This incident will certainly call into question whether team orders are necessary in the future.

Verstappen added: “This has happened before and you learn from it.

“We have to make sure it does not happen again. We will speak with the team but what we’ll do in the future.

“I don’t think letting us not racing any more is the way forward but we’ll take about it and see what happens.”

This brings back unpleasant memories of the collision between Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber in Turkey 2010.