Daniel Ricciardo had his Hungarian Grand Prix ended on the opening lap when Red Bull teammate Max Verstappen drove into the side of the Australian’s RB13 racer.
The pair made good starts from sixth and fifth respectively, both jumping the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton on the first turn.
Ricciardo then passed his Dutch teammate into turn two to move into fourth before Verstappen hit him as they came through the corner.
The incident did irreparable damage to Ricciardo’s Red Bull, which went off the circuit and was spilling a lot of oil.
It also sparked an angry reaction from Ricciardo over the team radio.
“Someone hit me. Is that who I think it was?” Ricciardo asked his race engineer.
“Yes,” came the reply from Red Bull, and then Ricciardo did not mince his words.
“F****ng sore loser,” Ricciardo added.
While the incident ended Ricciardo’s race, Verstappen was given a 10 second penalty but still managed to finish fifth as he barrelled down on the Mercedes of Hamilton at the death.
Ricciardo was left to fume some more when asked by reporters at the circuit about the collision between the two Red Bulls.
“That was amateur to say the least,” Ricciardo said.
“It’s not like he was trying to pass. He doesn’t like people passing him.
“I didn’t really know what happened. It’s just frustrating – it was not even an overtaking move.
“It was an emotional response.”
Ricciardo also called for his 19-year-old teammate to take full responsibility for the error.
“In that moment the team said sorry and they will speak to Max,” Ricciardo added.
“Let’s see if he acts his age or like a man about it and admits the error.
“I could go and call him names after the accident but if he starts bringing in other excuses in then we will have a problem.”
Verstappen offered up an apology immediately after the race.
“It is of course not what you want,” Verstappen said of the incident.
“The start was actually quite good but then we were both fighting for position into turn two. I had a car in front of me and I locked up and then I was a passenger.
“It was never my intention to hit anyone and especially my teammate, who I have a good relationship with.
“I apologise to Daniel and I will speak to him in private. We will sort it out.”
Chancho
Roar Rookie
Max is getting a bad habit of doing this.... it annoyed me when he ruined Vettel's chances in Canada by doing the same kind of thing in the first corner. Yeah he sees the gap, yeah he goes for it, yeah he's competitive but his actions are compromising too many people's races. Horner was pretty gutless in the post race interview, I think he's worried about Max switching to another team? But he said he shouldn't be punished because he apologised to Daniel... well I'm sure Kyviat apologised at Red Bull before they demoted him back to Toro Rosso
Cento
Guest
It was really frustrating to watch as Red Bull clearly had a very competitive if not superior package to Ferrari and Mercedes on the day. If this incident doesn't teach Max a lesson in composure then I don't know what will.
hop-along-joe
Guest
Verstappen deserves a red card for that deliberate act of sabotage! How much more incompetence will Ricciardo accept from this team of amateurs, Red Bull??