Red Bull went through a disaster at the Azerbaijan Grand prix when its drivers Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen crashed and retired from the race. The team refused to blame one of them but ordered both to go to the Milton Keynes factory and apologize to the staff.
“For sure it was a chaotic race and I guess we caused most of that. I have watched a few replays and the only thing we can both say is sorry to the team. This is the last thing we wanted. We want to be able to race and I’m thankful that the team let us race. We tried to keep it clean and give each other room but we were racing hard and in the end, it cost us. I’m not going to talk about the incident but this was the worst case scenario and everyone is pretty heartbroken. I will personally apologise to the Team and once again I’m just sorry we are all in this situation when everyone has worked so hard to give us such a good car”, Ricciardo said.
Ricciardo: I’m thankful that the team let us race; Verstappen: We will learn
Verstappen repeated the statement that it was a very disappointing race for the team.
“I don’t think we need to speak about fault because at the end of the day we are racing for a team and representing a lot of people, so when this happens it is not good for both of us. The tow was very strong and our speed was very similar, so we were then always very close to each other. Before the accident it was hard racing but fair I think and we gave each other space, we had a little brush with the wheels but I think in racing that can happen, but what happened afterwards is not good”, he said.
“We will learn from this and have to make sure it doesn’t happen again. I don’t think not letting us race anymore is the way forward but of course, we will talk this over as a team and learn from it. We are always very fair to each other and have spoken immediately about this. For now, I’m just sorry and want to apologise to the people we represent.”
There are no Team orders here, but you’ve got to keep it clean. No blame on either driver, both race hard and want to win.
An #AzerbaijanGP to forget for us today… but both drivers’ have apologised and we all move on to Spain! ? pic.twitter.com/K1G5dftOJ0
— Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing) April 29, 2018
