Ricciardo, Verstappen brace for Red Bull warning

Red Bull duo Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen expect to be given another warning on driver conduct when racing each other ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix following their high-profile clash last time out in Baku.

The pair crashed out together during the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, which saw Red Bull suffer its second double DNF from the opening four rounds of the 2018 Formula 1 campaign, and stricter rules of engagement have been instigated at the team to avoid similar problems.

Ricciardo predicts another stern warning from Red Bull Christian Horner, who ordered both drivers to apologise to the entire team after their Baku clash, but concedes the team is in a “difficult position” having qualified alongside teammate Verstappen on the third row of the grid ahead of the Spanish race.

“I expect Christian to definitely have a word to us tomorrow before the race,” Ricciardo said. “For the next few races until things calm down and he sees proof that things have calmed down he will definitely talk to us.

“We are in a difficult position because we want to not only beat each other but try and attack Kimi or whoever is in front of us. Look, we’ve attacked before and kept it clean, so we just need to do that.”

Verstappen says he won’t change his approach to his on track conduct, despite coming in for heavy criticism after being involved in three big clashes with rivals in the past three consecutive F1 races, while last year the Dutch driver saw his Spanish Grand Prix over after the first lap due to damage sustained in a collision with Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen.

“I hope it just goes in that direction because I don’t think I need to do anything different,” Verstappen said. “I won’t because that’s not who I am.

“At the end of the day, it has brought me to where I am so I can’t really complain about that.”