Verstappen and Ricciardo in Red Bull doghouse after crash, fumes Horner

Christian Horner was far from impressed by the crash involving Red Bull duo Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo, blaming them both.

Published : Apr 29, 2018 22:01 IST

Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen are in the Red Bull doghouse and were both to blame for their crash at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, says team principal Christian Horner.

The Red Bull duo disputed a heated battle for fourth and, after a couple of close calls that included a kiss of wheels, Ricciardo slammed into the back of Verstappen on the run down to turn one with 11 laps remaining, ending both their races and resulting in the safety car being deployed.

The Australian pulled to the outside before attempting to dart down the inside of his team-mate, who moved across and received a shunt as he stepped on the breaks. Unsurprisingly, Horner was far from impressed.

"They both recognise that they screwed up today and will be apologising to all the members of the team," he is quoted as saying by the BBC.

 

"There were probably three incidents between them through the race. They touched wheels and were told to calm it down, we don't want to interfere with them going wheel-to-wheel. We are not apportioning blame one way or the other, they are both to blame for this.

"Our intention is to continue to let them race but they have to show respect and give space. They have been reminded that they are part of a team, they are highly paid individuals with the team's interest at heart. The message was delivered very clearly.

"They are both in the doghouse. They will apologise to all of the staff before Barcelona."

Verstappen assured there were no issues between himself and Ricciardo after the collision, but stressed he does not think team orders should become a consideration for Red Bull.

"It's really disappointing for the team. We lost a lot of points today, unnecessarily," he told Sky Sports. "I don't think we need to speak about whose fault because at the end of the day we are racing for a team. 

"It's not only down to us, we speak to the team about what we will do in the future. I don't think not letting us race anymore is the way forwards but we will talk about it.

"Daniel and I are OK with each other. As racing drivers you go through every inch and of course you are not happy when you collide to each other as team-mates, but we are very fair to each other so we spoke immediately after the race."

 

Ricciardo felt he had to commit to his manoeuvre and admitted to being "heartbroken" by the mood within the garage.

"I'm pretty down. We're thankful that we are allowed to race. Max and I love to race as we show and that's cool," he said.

"The incident itself, it's a tough one. Once I come out, I thought the gap was opening up on the inside and once I was there I had to commit to that.

"I'm heartbroken for how everyone is feeling in the team right now. We don't want to be in that sort of situation."

 

Sign in to unlock all user benefits
  • Get notified on top games and events
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign up / manage to our newsletters with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early bird access to discounts & offers to our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide to our community guidelines for posting your comment