"F**cking sore loser": When an angry Daniel Ricciardo showed Max Verstappen the middle finger and lashed out at him
Former Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo was furious with his then-teammate Max Verstappen after the duo clashed with each other during the 2017 Hungarian Grand Prix. It was a formidable partnership between Ricciardo and Verstappen for almost three seasons at the Austrian team as both drivers pushed each other on the track.
But on occasion, the desire to finish ahead of each other culminated in coming together on the track, which resulted in one or sometimes both drivers out of the race. During the 2017 edition of the Hungarian GP, the Aussie driver made a fast start and was up a couple of positions ahead of his teammate, who had started in front of him.
But Max Verstappen was unable to control his car and locked up heading into turn three and rammed into the side of Daniel Ricciardo's Red Bull. The crash caused huge damage to the sidepod of Ricciardo and left him spinning on the approach to Turn 4.
The Aussie came on to his team radio to inform his predicament and asked:
"Someone hit me.Is that who I think it was?"
When his race engineer Simon Rennie answered in the affirmative, Ricciardo replied:
"F**cking sore loser."
Daniel Ricciardo wasn't done. Making his way to the pits, he showed the middle finger to his teammate after the cars came around to that corner on the next lap.
Max Verstappen apologies to Daniel Ricciardo for his crash in Hungary
Red Bull driver Max Verstappen stated that he apologized to Daniel Ricciardo after the race as he accepted that he cost the team to score good points given that he too retired from the Hungarian GP in 2017 later on.
Speaking with Sky Sports, the Dutchman reflected:
"I apologize to Daniel and also to the team because we could have scored some good points. I'll speak to Daniel in private and we'll sort it out. It's of course not what you want. We braked quite deep into the corner but I had a car in front of me and locked the front.
"From there I was just a passenger. I was trying to avoid Daniel but it was not possible. It's never my intention to hit anyone but especially not my team-mate and especially with the relationship I have with Daniel which is very good."
Daniel Ricciardo too graciously accepted his young teammate's apology as he added:
"Max apologized to me after the race and we spoke one-on-one away from media or anyone. The situation was handled and taken care of in the right way to move forward. Lights go out again in four weeks."
Both drivers had a successful 2017 campaign, given Ricciardo won in Baku while Verstappen nabbed two wins in Sepang and Mexico.