Daniel Ricciardo believes Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton were both racing hard on the opening lap of the British GP , however he feels the Mercedes driver may have gone too hot into the corner. The Briton took the chequered flag despite a 10-second penalty for colliding with the Dutchman, who was taken to a medical centre after striking the barrier at Copse at over 50G. Ricciardo believes the nature of the corner made it difficult for both drivers, though he doesn't believe Hamilton had any intention of taking out the Red Bull driver. “When you’re in such a high-speed corner and just side-by-side, you’re both going to lose aero, particularly Lewis there with Max kind of in a little bit of dirty air," Ricciardo stated while watching a replay of the incident as per RaceFans. "But I think they were both going in hot. “Ultimately Lewis went in too hot for the for the given level of grip and that’s where you see [he] just drifted up into Max. Completely unintentional, but just the nature of the aero on these cars and [you] just have to allow a little more, but I’m certainly not going to sit here and judge and say he should have done that or that.” The two championship rivals have been battling hard all season but hadn't come together until the British GP. Nevertheless, Ricciardo is happy his former teammate is okay. “They’ve just been racing hard all year and it’s unfortunate they come together, obviously unfortunate for it to be such a big one," Ricciardo added. “But the thing is Max is okay. And to be honest, it’s a bit like yesterday with George [Russell] and Carlos [Sainz Jnr] – it’s the first lap, we’ve got still a bit cold tyres, high fuel, things happen and it is racing. But yes, certainly I feel for Max.”
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