Verstappen has ‘ironed out’ aggressive nature and matured - Ricciardo

Verstappen was wiped out in a controversial clash with title rival Lewis Hamilton on the opening lap of the British Grand Prix, sparking a war of words between the Red Bull and Mercedes camps.

While Red Bull insisted Hamilton was to blame and felt his 10-second time penalty was too lenient, the seven-time world champion claimed that Verstappen had been overly aggressive and not left him enough room.

Verstappen came under fire for his aggressive driving during his early years in F1 and was involved in a collision that took both himself and Ricciardo out at the 2018 Azerbaijan Grand Prix when they were Red Bull teammates.

“They have been racing hard all year so out put it down generally to a racing incident,” Ricciardo said of the Silverstone crash.

“The main thing is that Max got away safely. He was tested [in hospital] all evening, but he is here racing this weekend, so for his health and well-being it is great.

“Also for the sake of the championship and everyone following the sport, there is a great battle going on with Lewis and Max, so for the health of the championship it is great that he is here and competing.

“Max was under pressure in his first couple years of F1 with some of the moves and I definitely think that he has ironed that out and matured as a driver.

“For sure he will always race hard but I think we were teammates for three years, we came together twice, so that is pretty low numbers.”

Red Bull and Mercedes will face the stewards on Thursday afternoon ahead of this weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix after Red Bull lodged a right to review the incident and resulting penalty.

While the collision has proved a divisive topic, Ricciardo says he saw nothing “out of line” with the incident.

“Watching Max’s onboard there was room on the inside,” he said. “Of course they were racing hard but fair through those phases of corners. I think Max suspected or knew that Lewis was there, and gave a little bit of room.

“You know what is what. I did not see anything out of line with the incident itself.

“The consequence was the big talking point, and it is a shame that it happened in one of the quickest corners on the calendar. Luckily Max was more or less okay and he is here to race this weekend.

“Deep down all of us know racing etiquette and went to squeeze and when not. I think we are pretty clear with that.”

Ricciardo added he believes the rules are clear enough, saying: “As racers we know. Even sometimes it does not have to be written on paper for us. We know through years of racing and the experience we have.

“Especially in these cars, there is a point where there are blind spots, like if a car is a quarter of the way on our inside. The chance of a car being there is pretty high. So we will always leave room for one car.”