I'm just going to chip in with my two cents, late though I am.
If you want to assign blame, it should first arrive squarely at the door of Mr Horner. I know he says that they don't use team orders, but you KNOW Ricciardo is faster, has been faster all weekend and that Verstappen has a history of bad decisions and downright stupid and dangerous moves. Do you, as a team leader, really want him anywhere near your best chance of a podium? Ricciardo, if he had not been stuck behind his teammate the entire race, had the pace for a podium if not another win. Verstappen was never going to be any higher than fourth.
In terms of the incident itself, and the drivers, I'm going to have to rag on Verstappen again. I'm sorry, but even if that movement was legal, it was downright stupid when you know your teammate is behind you and is a master of late braking. If they were fighting for a championship, or even a race win, sure go for it. But you are a driver who is under heavy criticism for dangerous driving, and then you pull a move like that completely unnecessarily against your teammate? You have no right to complain about being labelled the next Maldonado. Jesus kid, just use your brain.
As for Ricciardo, that was a move born of desperation. He knew that the longer he waited to get by Verstappen, the worse his of chances of a podium got. So I can understand why he felt the need to force the issue. That being said, it would've taken a miracle for him to have made that corner at that speed. However, after Verstappen made that second move, Ricciardo had absolutely no options. Because of the lack of front downforce, and his locked brakes, he may as well have not had a steering wheel for all of the good it would've done him. He was really just a passenger. On the one hand, I feel sorry for him, because he lost out on a lot of points, and potentially is no longer in the championship contention (which he might have been with a podium here and a decent upgrade package in Spain). On the other hand, that was an extremely risky move which he was kind of forced to make by his team and Verstappen.
TLDR; RBR are to blame, followed by Verstappen and lastly, Ricciardo is somewhat at fault as well.
If you want to assign blame, it should first arrive squarely at the door of Mr Horner. I know he says that they don't use team orders, but you KNOW Ricciardo is faster, has been faster all weekend and that Verstappen has a history of bad decisions and downright stupid and dangerous moves. Do you, as a team leader, really want him anywhere near your best chance of a podium? Ricciardo, if he had not been stuck behind his teammate the entire race, had the pace for a podium if not another win. Verstappen was never going to be any higher than fourth.
In terms of the incident itself, and the drivers, I'm going to have to rag on Verstappen again. I'm sorry, but even if that movement was legal, it was downright stupid when you know your teammate is behind you and is a master of late braking. If they were fighting for a championship, or even a race win, sure go for it. But you are a driver who is under heavy criticism for dangerous driving, and then you pull a move like that completely unnecessarily against your teammate? You have no right to complain about being labelled the next Maldonado. Jesus kid, just use your brain.
As for Ricciardo, that was a move born of desperation. He knew that the longer he waited to get by Verstappen, the worse his of chances of a podium got. So I can understand why he felt the need to force the issue. That being said, it would've taken a miracle for him to have made that corner at that speed. However, after Verstappen made that second move, Ricciardo had absolutely no options. Because of the lack of front downforce, and his locked brakes, he may as well have not had a steering wheel for all of the good it would've done him. He was really just a passenger. On the one hand, I feel sorry for him, because he lost out on a lot of points, and potentially is no longer in the championship contention (which he might have been with a podium here and a decent upgrade package in Spain). On the other hand, that was an extremely risky move which he was kind of forced to make by his team and Verstappen.
TLDR; RBR are to blame, followed by Verstappen and lastly, Ricciardo is somewhat at fault as well.
. The truth is that Red Bull made a mistake not realizing that low tire temps with new tire made possible to Max overcut Ricciardo.
