Ricciardo: Verstappen too greedy in Hamilton overtake

Daniel Ricciardo says he agrees with the FIA race stewards call on the Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton clash during the Bahrain Grand Prix but felt his Red Bull teammate was “too greedy” in his overtaking attempt.

The Australian driver suffered a frustrating exit from the Bahrain race with an electrical failure on his Red Bull car during the opening lap. Behind Ricciardo his teammate Verstappen clipped his rear-left wheel with Hamilton’s front wing on his Mercedes while attempting an opening lap pass which saw the Dutch driver pick up a puncture before eventually retiring from the race two laps later with a transmission failure sustained in his crawl back to the pits with the puncture.

During the podium cool down room Hamilton was caught on camera calling Verstappen “a dickhead” after seeing the incident on a replay.

In China, Verstappen has accused the reigning F1 world champion of taking the easy option to “blame the younger driver” while Hamilton has apologised for his comment to the Red Bull driver as both look to move on from the incident.

When quizzed on the clash, Ricciardo agreed with the FIA that it was a racing incident and neither drivers deserved penalties but did feel Verstappen didn’t need to push Hamilton so wide with the overtake already completed.

“It didn’t deserve a penalty, so that was fine,” Ricciardo said. “It reminded me a little bit of me and Rosberg in Budapest where Rosberg kept coming and I was on the exit kerb, and I had nowhere else to go.

“I think Max had the move done, I just don’t think he needed to run Lewis all of the way to the kerb. I think regardless Max would have stayed ahead, he’s just a little bit too greedy in my racing opinion.

“I heard some people say Lewis could have lifted and pulled out, but like you’re there, unless you turned off the track or braked. It’s easier said than done. I don’t think because Lewis was so tight as well, he wasn’t going to make Turn 2 with any form of speed so even if Max hung around the outside, I think Max would have had him regardless but squeezed him a little bit too much.”

Verstappen’s quick exit from the Bahrain race so soon after Ricciardo’s mechanical retirement saw Red Bull suffer its first F1 double DNF since the 2010 Korean Grand Prix.