Max Verstappen has claimed it was never his intention to hit team-mate Daniel Ricciardo into Turn 2 of the Hungarian Grand Prix after his clash.
After both cars got a great start, the Dutchman found himself on the outside of Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton and almost off the circuit. In the braking zone of Turn 2, he locked up and slid into the side of Ricciardo, breaking his radiator and caused a puncture.
The 19-year old said: “I think the situation started from Turn 1. My start was actually quite good but then I got squeezed a bit wide on to the astroturf and lost quite a bit of speed.
“Daniel and I were both fighting for position at Turn 2 so we braked quite deep into the corner. I had a car in front of me so I lost quite a bit of downforce and locked the front tyres, from there I was just a passenger.
“I was trying to avoid Daniel of course but unfortunately that was not possible. It is never my intention to hit anyone, but especially not your team-mate, and especially with the relationship I have with Daniel, it’s always really good and we can always have a laugh.”
Verstappen has stated he would like to talk to Ricciardo in private to discuss everything, although that could prove tricky after comments made by the Australian in the aftermath of their clash.
“This is not nice and I apologise to Daniel for that and also to the team because we could have scored some good points here,” added the Dutchman.
“I’ll speak with Daniel in private and we’ll sort it out. It was actually a positive Sunday in terms of pace. It’s not nice what happened in the beginning of the race, so I’m of course not happy with that, but at least the car is moving forward.”
