Verstappen apologises as Ricciardo laments 'amateur' error in Hungarian GP

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen has said that he would try to mend his relationship with his team-mate Daniel Ricciardo which has damaged after he committed an "amateur" mistake by crashing the latter out of the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Ricciardo, who started just one place behind his Dutch teammate at the sixth position, passed Verstappen into the turn two to move up to fourth place.

However, as both cars came through the fourth turn, Verstappen collided with Ricciardo to send him off the track and irreparably damaging his car on lap one.

While the crash ended Ricciardo's race, Verstappen was handed a 10-second penalty to finish the race at the fifth position in Hungary.

After driving into the side of the Riccirado's Red Bull car, the 19-year-old issued an apology to his Australian team-mate and insisted that it was accidental.

"It is of course not what you want. The start was actually quite good but then we were both fighting for position into turn two. I had a car in front of me and I locked up and then I was a passenger," the Guardian quoted Verstappen as saying.

"It was never my intention to hit anyone and especially my team-mate, who I have a good relationship with. I apologise to Daniel and I will speak to him in private. We will sort it out," he added.

Meanwhile, Ricciardo continued to remain furious about the collision between the two Red Bull drivers.

Expressing his frustration over the incident, Ricciardo pointed out that Verstappen was not trying to pass during the race, but that he doesn't like anyone overtaking him.

"That was amateur to say the least. It's not like he was trying to pass. He doesn't like people passing him. I didn't really know what happened. It's just frustrating - it was not even an overtaking move. It was an emotional response," he said.

Ricciardo further called on Verstappen to behave like a man and admit his mistake.

"In that moment the team said sorry and they will speak to Max. Let's see if he acts his age or like a man about it and admits the error. I could go and call him names after the accident but if he starts bringing in other excuses in then we will have a problem," Ricciardo added.

Ricciardo is currently standing at the fourth place in Formula One championships standings while Verstappen is just two places behind him at the sixth spot.

-ANI