Daniel Ricciardo breaks silence over salty Verstappen jibe

Max Verstappen’s dad took aim at Daniel Ricciardo for the way he celebrated securing pole position at the Mexican GP – and now the Aussie has hit back.

Verstappen finished second in the shootout and eventually won the overall race in Mexico, so despite Ricciardo’s devastating eighth retirement of the season, a salty Jos Verstappen stuck the boot in.

Jos claims Ricciardo took his celebrations over the top after pipping Max for first on the grid, saying it infuriated his son.

But Ricciardo claims Max’s angered wasn’t directed at him.

“I am not aware of that (Jos’s comments about Max),” Ricciardo said.

“I was aware Max was p***ed after quali, the press conference and that you could tell he was not too pleased.

“I don’t think it was really directed at me. I think anyone missing their first pole by such a small margin is going to be p***ed.

“Even if I missed that pole, if I was in his shoes, even if it was not for my first pole, I would still be upset. That is the competitor in us.”

Jos Verstappen’s initial comments echoed Ricciardo’s to an extent, agreeing that if anyone missed pole by such a small margin it would cause anger.

But the former Formula One driver himself said Ricciardo’s exuberant outburst rubbed salt into the wounds for Max.

“He (Max) was especially annoyed by missing the pole and by the car, but also by Ricciardo,” Jos Verstappen told Ziggo Sport.

“I tried to calm him down a bit, he was particularly angry because the car was out of order. That pole position is nice, but winning is of course much more important.

“He (Ricciardo) celebrated his pole position with an exuberance as if he had become world champion. He (Max) was very angry.”

Ricciardo’s enthusiastic celebrations can be perceived as those of Jos’ opinion, but for Ricciardo they were merely a sigh of relief following a tumultuous season with Red Bull.

“I didn’t see it as anything personal, like I was rubbing it in,” Ricciardo added.

“I was super happy because it has been a tough year. I was the underdog in that fight for pole. So to do it, I was pretty stoked.

“From his point of view, he was the favourite all weekend, topping all the sessions, and to get pipped by your teammate by two hundredths (of a second), it is going to p*** you off. That is just the competitor.”

F1 team’s brutal crack at ‘moaner’ Max Verstappen

Renault’s tumultuous relationship with Red Bull has ramped up a notch courtesy of a brutal crack at star driver Max Verstappen.

The rival Formula One teams have been at loggerheads throughout the season with Red Bull consistently left frustrated by the engines provided to them by Renault.

The rocky relationship between the pair will soon be coming to an end, with Red Bull confirming Honda as their new engine provider in 2019.

That scenario has led to an unsavoury series of tit-for-tat incidents between the two teams in the closing stages of this season.

True to form, the fires have been stoked again ahead of this weekend’s Brazilian Grand Prix, with Renault taking a cheeky dig at Red Bull’s young Dutch driver in their usual travel blog.

“A party atmosphere is one similarity between Mexico and Brazil, with another being the sheer volume of people living in the two host cities,” read the preview.

“With a combined population of 20 million, which may or may not be equivalent to the number of times Max Verstappen has moaned about something this season, these two back-to-backs are physically HUGE.”

with Agencies.