Formula 1’s managing director of motorsport, Ross Brawn, has claimed Daniel Ricciardo was a “passenger” in the moments prior to slamming into Max Verstappen during the Azerbaijan GP.
The Briton made the claim after the F1 commission narrowly passed rule changes for 2019 that will see changes to both the front and rear wings in an effort to improve overtaking on Monday.
In his remarks praising the decision, the former Ferrari technical chief and Mercedes boss used the incident in Baku as proof as to why changes are needed.
“Once Daniel had settled for his line, and Max had changed direction blocking that line, the Australian became a passenger,” he claimed.
“The downforce loss experienced by Ricciardo in the wake of Verstappen’s car would have made it unstoppable.
“We often think of downforce applying in cornering, but the impact the extra grip has in braking is huge. Take away that grip in braking and what happened on Sunday was inevitable.”
Remaining impartial, despite suggesting the Dutchman’s manoeuvre was the biggest factor, Brawn did agree that neither driver was totally to blame, with Ricciardo looking to pull off an ambitious dummy.
“I do think the stewards’ decision to reprimand both drivers was the right course of action,” he stated.
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With the matter considered closed at Red Bull, Verstappen has stressed the relationship he has with his teammate remains strong.
“Daniel and I are completely okay with each other,” the 20-year-old said. “We can both see that what happened isn’t good for the team.
“We’d already had some tough battles, but everything was fine. It was hard but fair. Now we’ll obviously need to go to the team in Milton Keynes and apologise.
“But then we need to stay positive because I think we have a really good chance coming in Barcelona. We’ve got a lot of updates on the car, it all looks really good.”