Daniel Ricciardo on what led to the crash with Verstappen in Baku

Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen were involved in an ugly crash at Baku, one that has been spoken about a lot ever since it transpired on the race track.

The Red Bull drivers were very careful about not pinning the blame on each other during all the post race interviews. However, after all of the ‘fire’ has settled down, it seems like Ricciardo has taken a slight dig at Verstappen.

After the race, Ross Brawn had said that Ricciardo didn’t have any option but to crash into Verstappen, as he had lost downforce on his car after Verstappen changed lines. And Ricciardo has now confirmed what everyone on the outside was saying.

“I definitely committed early enough and, at the time, with a clear inside,” said Ricciardo.

“I’m then on the brakes and when you get the air taken away, you could see I tried to pull out of it but there was no real escape route after that.

“You lose all downforce and everything. Even the brakes, they lock a lot easier when you don’t have the downforce on. That was like the end result but it was due to that inside closing up.” he added.

After the crash the Red Bull team got together and investigated every aspect of the incident as they did not want a repeat of it anytime during the season.

“We all talked about it from all different points of view. What the drivers could’ve done better: obviously Max and myself. What the team could’ve done better: Christian [Horner] and the decision makers on the pit wall. What the engineers could’ve done better or different. So everyone was involved in the process. We had some long discussions.

“Obviously we are the drivers, we created, in the end, the incident. But it was an accumulation of events and it was important to address all areas. I don’t think it was just us in that moment, there was a build-up and maybe a way we could’ve responded better, whether it was releasing a car or something, a lot of things were talked about.” Ricciardo said.

Ricciardo spoke about a possible solution that was discussed in the meetings, wherein wheel-to-wheel incidents might be dealt by asking the cars to swap places.

“I think if it got to that point again where there’s banging wheels and stuff then [they would]. Especially if the car [behind] is faster then you’d probably expect at some point they’ll [say] swap cars and release one of them. There’s no guarantee but that was one thing they certainly talked about.”

He also made it clear that maybe from next time, he’ll ask Verstappen to make way if he feels that his car is faster.

“I’m saying I can go faster but I’m not shouting, sounding like a… little girl. But maybe I should.” he said.