Niki Lauda jokes both Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo had to pay $1 Million for the 2018 Azerbaijan GP crash if they were a part of Mercedes

Former Mercedes mentor and world champion Late Niki Lauda jokes to let both the Red Bull drivers pay for their Azerbaijan GP crash

Niki Lauda was one of the most iconic personalities in the F1 world. There was a certain incident between Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo that got the former world champion talking.

Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen had one of the most amazing 40-laps battles at the 2018 Azerbaijan Grand Prix. However, it came to an abrupt end.

Going into the 40th lap of the race on the fast Turn 1, Ricciardo crashed into the rear of Verstappen’s Red Bull. This led to a double retirement for the British team.

‘Max Verstappen is the one who was at 70 percent fault’ – Niki Lauda

The legendary Niki Lauda went back in time to watch his own fierce battle with James Hunt with the way both Red Bull drivers performed.

Moreover, he was part of an iconic team with two drivers challenging for the championship every year. The battle between Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg.

What happened in Baku was shocking and Lauda had a pretty witty yet sensible answer when discussing the incident. According to him, the Dutchman was the one who should take the blame.

Also Read: Valtteri Bottas holds the record for the highest speed recorded at a Grand Prix with 231.4 MPH

Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo to pay for the Baku crash?

Niki Lauda part of the Mercedes outfit had his own opinion about it. As per him, both drivers would run into serious financial problems due to their crashes.

He explains: “I would bring them in the office together with Toto. Later, will tell them how much less they will get paid because of the damage they have done.”

The Austrian driver recalls the infamous Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg crash of the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix. He called it a ‘disaster’ something the Red Bull drivers repeated two years later in Baku.

max verstappen equalled niki lauda on 25 wins today.♥️ pic.twitter.com/0sc6gksyUR

— charlie ¹ drugo wdc🇧🇷 (@rbrleclerc) June 12, 2022

Also Read: “It’s been tough!”: 31 GP Winner Max Verstappen jokes about having ‘too many sponsors’