Max Verstappen, Red Bull, Baku City Circuit, 2018

Verstappen urges Red Bull not to impose team orders after Ricciardo crash

2018 Azerbaijan Grand Prix

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Max Verstappen believes Red Bull should continue to allow him and Daniel Ricciardo to race each other despite their race-ending Azerbaijan Grand Prix crash.

“I don’t think letting us not race any more is the way forward,” Verstappen said after both drivers retired from today’s race, “but of course we will talk about it and see what happens.”

The pair spent much of the race sparring with each other and banged wheels at one point. However Verstappen said the team should not have called off the fight between him and Ricciardo.

“The tow was very strong so as soon as he was in front then I was catching up again. We were pretty similar speed and we were very close to each other.

“Before that it was hard racing but it was fair. Of course we had this little brush with the wheel but I think this is racing, that can happen. But what happened afterwards of course is not good.”

“It’s just really disappointing for the team,” he added. “We lost a lot of points today unnecessarily.

“I think we don’t need to speak about who’s at fault because at the end of the day we are racing for the team, we are racing other people and this happens. It’s just not good for both of us.”

Verstappen said he and Ricciardo had already discussed the collision. “Of course you’re not happy when you collide together as team mates but we are very fair to each other so we spoke immediately after.”

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Keith Collantine
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48 comments on “Verstappen urges Red Bull not to impose team orders after Ricciardo crash”

  1. i saw this coming from lap 1, i would have put one of them on a different strategy.

    Helmut Marco said it right; both are to blame.

    1. Helmut Marco has said very little right that I recall.
      He was a Seb boy, and now Max (despite the fact that Dan has been there forever and Max since morning smoko).

      So saying both to blame is a joke. They tried to blame the Turkey collision on Webber but anyone that’s knows anything about racing can see it wasn’t – Red Bull hey…………….. who runs this team??

    2. Agreed, the team should have changed strategy s.
      But close racing is what we want to see and we got it.
      It’s a pity for the team.

      1. Seemed like there was not much opportunity to split the strategy today. Perhaps Pirelli should have brought softer rubber.

      2. Weaving is not close racing. It’s just dirty.

      3. If a team has to change strategy due to teammates running into each other, then you need to change driver(s)

    3. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
      29th April 2018, 17:32

      @azmo What are people on about here? Both to blame? Ricciardo had so more pace and had to stay behind because passing Verstappen is practically the same as taking yourself out of the race, even if you’re his teammate.

      This was Ricciardo’s best race EVER – he’s been decent in the other races but this was a stunning drive.

    4. I think we don’t need to speak about who’s at fault because…

      …because anyone who isn’t clinically blind could see that it was my fault for opening the door with my first defensive move and then closing it far too late with my second illegal defensive move.

      Verstappen is a hazard and needs a race ban! I wonder how many more people he needs to have an accident with before we see it???

  2. Well, the good thing is that these discussions seem to occur promptly at Red Bull now, that is healthy. Unlike the Vettel-Webber era when things seemed to be discussed but ended up festering.

    1. Yes. It’s weird to have two competitive drivers could discussed that right away maturely and having both apologize to the team afterwards. But it’s great.

  3. Oh really? I wonder why?

    Just hearing Dan speak now and happy he isn’t playing the blame game, which is good as a few times of late I wasn’t entirely happy with some of Dans comments, or sticking the figure to another driver. He knows who is to blame.

  4. I think Dan was quite fair through the whole race with leaving verstappen space. On the other hand max wasn’t, and moving around the braking zone was too much in my opinion.

    1. Remember last years Valencia GP(Moto3) winner was stripped off the win after he was seen dangerously seen weaving on straight. It was the same today with Max and we also got to see the outcome of such dangerous driving.

      1. Sorry it was Aragon Gp and not Valencia.

  5. Without looking at the lap times it seemed to me that Ricciardo was constantly quicker. So team orders in that case would be justified for maximum points.

    1. Agreed.
      And it would avoid that shaming crash

    2. @johnrkh I agree, and I’ve always maintained there’s a world of difference between “let the faster driver through” and “hold your positions.” The former is not only sensible management but also gives the team the best chance of maximising their result, while the latter would only be done to favour one driver over the other.

    3. Daniel looked like he had some pace in hand. Before his overtaking-attempts he closed in really quick. I do not like teamorders, but after the first touch between the two, I would have told Max to let Daniel past. If he could quickly build a gap- it would have been the right decission. If not- swap them back…

    4. Max said after the race the tow was very big. Whoever was behind was l lot quicker because of the tow. Team orders wouldn’t have changed that

      1. GRO tried to blame ERI for his crash, so what’s your point.
        Max just tries to ‘justify’ why RIC had more pace, all race long.

        1. GRO tried to blame ERI for his crash

          No he didn’t: Grosjean’s race engineer was heard on the radio suggesting he might have been hit by Ericsson.

          1. @keithcollantine
            Hahaha. I know, clearly it wasn’t GRO who did the talking, it’s just that it has already grown into a race meme.

            Point was, if we were to believe anybody’s view on something just bc it is said, we wouldn’t come any further in assessing the validity of that view, especially if it comes from an underlying party.

        2. GRO tried to blame ERI for his crash

          No he didn’t: Grosjean’s race engineer was heard on the radio suggesting he might have been hit by Ericsson.

    5. @johnrkh

      Max was quicker most of the race. This can easily be checked. Max was 22 laps quicker than RIC and RIC was 17 laps quicker than Max

      Max pulled a 3 sec gap but lost this advantage when Lewis came out of the pits just in front of him. He actually got on the radio about this

      1. Max pulled a gap or Dan backed off to charge his battery?

        I think you’ll find it was the latter!

      2. Lol, Ricciardo was quicker all weekend in fact. Verstappen had no answer. His blocking of Ricciardo smacked of desperation rather than tactical moves.Could this be the beginning of the end for Verstappen? Remember Kvyat? He was in RedBull once, but inconsistency and poor judgement seen him moved. Two young guns in Toro Rosso more than happy to try their skills against a talent like Ricciardo in a RedBull.
        But all this could be meaningless if Ricciardo moves to Ferrari of Merc, a choice by the way that I don’t believe was offered to Verstappen by either team.

      3. @nick101 @johnrkh
        Don’t mind Patrick, he can’t help himself. He, and others, actually think Max is outperforming everyone on the track this season, and are convinced that if they just keep repeating it, they will convince others, despite of our own observations, despite all of the hard data, despite all the facts.

        “Max was quicker most of the race. This can easily be checked. Max was 22 laps quicker than RIC and RIC was 17 laps quicker than Max” – He’s actually ‘analyzing’ the race by simply comparing the lap times lap by lap, including the ones behind the SC, finds it to be favorable for his idol and proceeds sharing it with us :-)) But:
        1) If RIC was slower, why did he have at least four tries on VER (against one the other way around, which was more of a race craft/gutsy- skilled pass, being immediately after the first SC, instead of pace surplus)?
        2) Apart from the overtake tries and the aforementioned pass made by Max, why was RIC constantly right on the tail of Max?
        3) Surely Patrick knows a thing or two about something called ‘track position’?

        4) He further proceeds that Max was up for 3 seconds, when HAM came out of the pits. That seems to be right. But was HAM the reason of the catching up of RIC? No, bc HAM pulled away from VER from the get go. RIC was, as mentioned, just in battery saving mode, this was “actually on the radio” as well. One lap back on track and HAM was already out of DRS reach of Max, RIC took off around 3.2 sec in 4 laps from Max’ lead (probably turned on the battery), and he was back on his tail, trying to overtake him again. In those couple of laps he wasn’t just faster than Max, who thus wasn’t held up by HAM (sigificantly), he was the fastest man on track.

        And about the tow-argument, used by at least VER and Fangio#1: Why then did RIC pull away as soon as he had passed VER?

        Keep’em coming Gouda.

  6. I mean they’re all being very friendly but the question should be asked, why did Ricciardo end up behind Verstappen after getting the job done before the pit stop? If the team knew the tyres were giving slow outlaps (which they would have looking at all the other drivers previous stops) Ricciardo should have been kept out.

    Why was Verstappen kept out so long in the first place when he wanted to stop long before Ricciardo made the overtook stick in the first place?

    Red Bull can blame it on the drivers but I think there’s a fair case for them to point it back on the team’s strategy as well.

    As for which driver, as they’ve both said, there’s no point talking about it, it’s racing, it was an optimistic move and an aggressive defense. It’s hard to say either were in the right or wrong, but that they both felt the need to fight so hard with each other rather than work together to get the better overall position says more than anything.

    1. Ricciardo had to jink around a Torro Rosso just before pit entry – can’t have helped his in lap.

  7. Max moved twice pure and smiple hope gets a penalty!!!

    1. you know the 1 move rule in breakingzone is removed? And Max wasn’t moving his steering when braking you can see that on the onboard he is even flipping his left gear paddle.

      1. But the rule regarding 2 defensive moves regardless of where on the track you are is still in place. He made 2 defensive moves – ILLEGAL!

  8. This is the problem with moving in the braking zones. When you have a car behind you braking on the limit & you cut across the front of him you suddenly take the air off there front wing which immediately reduces there braking ability which tends to then lead to what we saw today.

  9. Lol, team orders would get them P3-4 maybe even P2-3.. They must feel stupid not issuing them. Newey was seen urging Horner to act…

  10. Sergey Martyn
    29th April 2018, 16:23

    If there’s no one to blame why not to demote both to Toro Rosso?
    I know what you did last season…

    1. Demotion sucks, so we only have sacking.

  11. Moving around in the braking zone has caused many bad accidents in the past, I can remember Ralf Schumacher doing so to Villeneuve in 2001 which led to the death of a track worker in Australia.
    If Verstappen did brake the rules, the FIA should punish him. They punished Hakkinen back in 1994 for causing a huge shunt at Hockenheim, so it’s up to them. They have the luxury of having more data than the tv images we have.
    I have to agree that Red Bull should have done more in trying to separate these two before the crash, it was pretty obvious that something bad was going to happen. I don’t like or agree with team orders but a different strategy for the drivers would have been more prudent.
    As someone else has already suggested, Kyvat was axed for driving as Verstappen has done so far this season. Max is underperforming badly but it seems that Marks and others just want to bury their heads in the sand way too often. When this kid kills someone, maybe then they will listen. I hope it does not come to that.

    1. GtisBetter (@)
      29th April 2018, 17:02

      There was no rule broken. Ricciardo admitted to commiting to an anticipated gap, not an actual one, that’s why he couldn’t stop his car in time. Max did some hard defending, but nothing really wrong.

      1. @passingisoverrated, The gap was there, because Verstappen fell for the dummy and moved a full car width back to the right. Yet then he moved back left even though that is not allowed.

        Anyway, sad for Ricciardo, but good that Verstappen only cost Red Bull their race.

  12. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
    29th April 2018, 17:30

    Yeah Max but Daniel’s racing and you are not – not to mention that you couldn’t care less if RB score 0 points over this season.

  13. Well said. Verstappen realized his error and moved to the left to block and that was that. Ricciardo was carrying so much speed he was never going to avoid Max at that point, there was always going to be a crash.
    I have no problem with defensive driving, but Verstappen has to learn that in situations like that you have to back out. When the car behind has such a run on you, has the momentum, you have to conceid or wreck your car. It shows a lack of judgement, just like in China two weeks ago, and a lack of maturity.
    Earlier in the race, Verstappen dive bombed Ricciardo up the inside and Daniel, realizing he was beaten, let Max go. He could have easily squeezed Max towards the wall and they would have both crashed there and then. That is the difference between the two drivers, one is mature and measured and the other has the finesse of an F5 tornado.

    1. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
      29th April 2018, 17:49

      Max has done that time and time again – he’s literally unpassable which is why Daniel’s pass on Max was an absolute masterpiece. I thought his passes in China were good (but he was much faster so they were expected) but this one was great.

      And Red Bull threw the pass away in the pit stops and Max then did the unthinkable in DRS zone…

      I just don’t understand for the life of me how Helmut thinks they are both at fault and the stewards agree with him.

      They need to stop Max because he cannot stop himself, that much is obvious…

    2. totally agree @thelimit

  14. I agree with Verstappen. My passion for F1 has somewhat faded over the last couple of years. Races like this keep it alive, team orders will definitely kill it completely. Red Bull want F1 to be a show, well they put it on today. Without the first lap, the battle between Verstappen and Ricciardo and what happened after their collision, this race would have been even worse than Azerbaijan’s human rights record.

    1. I disagree. If there had have been a ‘team order’ early enough, I think Daniel would have been on Lewis Hamilton’s gearbox pretty quick smart, and that would have led to a more exciting show …

  15. Didn’t Paul Di Resta predict that the two Redbulls would come together. I like seeing the teams let drivers race but in hindsight, maybe they should have issued team orders. The ding dong between Ver and Ric cost the team big time today.

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