Hungarian Grand Prix: Max Verstappen apologises to Daniel Ricciardo for crash

Max Verstappen publicly apologised to Red Bull team-mate Daniel Ricciardo for taking him out on the first lap of the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Verstappen collided with Ricciardo as they fought for fourth position at Turn Two on the first lap.

"It is never my intention to hit anyone but especially not your team-mate, and especially the relationship I have with Daniel," Verstappen said.

"We can always have a laugh so this is not nice."

The 19-year-old's immediate apology is likely to cool tension between the drivers.

Ricciardo said the move was "amateur to say the least".

Speaking before Verstappen offered his apology, Ricciardo, 28, told BBC Radio 5 live: "The way Max handles it, more than the way I handle it, will dictate how it goes in the future.

"For sure I can go and call him names after the race but it's more how he will respond - if he acts like the age he is, or if he acts like a man about it and and admits the error.

"If he starts bringing in some other kind of excuse, then we'll have some problems."

Ricciardo got the run on Verstappen after the Dutchman was pushed wide at Turn One by Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas and was ahead on the outside as they approached the next corner.

But Verstappen locked his brakes and slid into the Australian, breaking a radiator. Ricciardo spun into retirement on fluids from his own car a corner later.

Verstappen's move earned him a 10-second penalty, served at his pit stop, which cost him any chance of challenging the Ferraris and Mercedes. He came home in fifth place, just 13 seconds behind race winner Sebastian Vettel.

"I was on the outside of Turn Two, Valtteri was on the inside so I thought if I braked on the outside I could brake later," Ricciardo added. "I don't really know what he was doing because Valtteri was on the inside.

"It's frustrating. It's not even an overtaking move. It's an emotional response - sees me pass him, wants to make it back and messed it up."

Verstappen, who also angered Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton with his defensive driving early in the race, said: "It is not what you want to touch your team-mate but I didn't do it on purpose.

"You try to fight for position, but fair, but I locked up and it is difficult to control that when you are also tight on the first lap.

"It is not nice and good but I will speak to Daniel about that. I apologise to him and also to the team because we could have scored some good points there.

"We were both fighting for position in Turn Two. So we braked quite deep into the corner but I had a car in front of me so I locked the front and then I was just a passenger.

"I was trying to avoid Daniel, of course, but unfortunately it was not possible."