Max Verstappen is ‘carrying anger’ towards Formula 1 title race rival Lewis Hamilton, according to McLaren driver Daniel Ricciardo.
Ricciardo, who won the Italian Grand Prix to give McLaren their first win since 2012, says his former teammate is still harbouring frustration from the crash at Silverstone.
The collision saw Verstappen go to hospital and Hamilton was given a 10-second penalty as he was judged to be at fault in the crash. The pair crashed for a second time this season at Monza with the Dutchman given a three-place grid penalty at the Russian Grand Prix for his involvement.
“That’s him [Verstappen], he is a competitor, he’ll leave it on the track and that’s it,” Ricciardo told the Pardon My Take podcast. “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 there were things where Lewis was trying to reverse and get out, look I’ve probably already got too involved but maybe Max saw that and thought, ‘okay Lewis is fine,’ but I don’t know.”
Verstappen was seen walking away from the crash at Monza instead of checking on Hamilton but Ricciardo says if the 23-year-old knew the Brit was hurt he would’ve helped him.
He added: “If we go through an accident and we know the other driver was injured, I’m one hundred percent sure we would all try to help, we wouldn’t just turn our backs.
“I don’t think what Max did was stupid, he saw an opportunity and went for it, but it was obviously not the best [manoeuvre].”
Verstappen currently holds a five-point lead on Hamilton in the F1 title race and they will battle once again at the Russian Grand Prix on 26 September.