Daniel Ricciardo believes Max Verstappen is getting a little bit of undeserved flak for not immediately running to the aid of Lewis Hamilton after the two title rivals clashed in Italy last weekend. Following Verstappen and Hamilton's collision at Monza, the Red Bull ended up on top of the Mercedes, with Verstappen appearing to walk away past the reigning World Champion without checking on his condition. While later imagery and replays have shown Verstappen looked at the Mercedes and saw Hamilton attempting to reverse out of the gravel, that hasn't stopped comments about his perceived "immaturity", with Sir Jackie Stewart a vocal critic in the wake of the accident. But Ricciardo, who went on to win the Italian Grand Prix, defended his former teammate and said he understood why Verstappen may not have wanted to go up close to Hamilton. "I know Max, we were teammates for a few years," Ricciardo told the Pardon My Take podcast. "That's him, he is a competitor, he'll leave it on the track and that's it. I guess he still maybe was carrying a bit of anger or a little bit of frustration from Silverstone. Maybe that's why he just said 'stuff this' and walked away. "I saw him go over his head but then stopped a bit more forward. I think where Lewis was trying to reverse and get out, maybe Max saw that and thought, 'OK, Lewis is fine', but I don't know." But the Australian was in no doubt that Verstappen would have run straight over to the Mercedes to help had there been any signs that Hamilton wasn't OK. "If we go through an accident and we know the other driver was injured, I'm 100 percent sure we would all try to help, we wouldn't just turn our backs," added Ricciardo. With Verstappen given a three-place grid penalty for the Russian Grand Prix next weekend, Ricciardo felt that the Dutch driver had tried a legitimate move but that the execution had, perhaps, been clumsy. "I don't think what Max did was stupid, he saw an opportunity and went for it, but it was obviously not the best," he said.
Most read
