Will Max Verstappen crash with Sergio Perez in Baku like he did with Daniel Ricciardo in 2018?

The Azerbaijan GP became a fan favorite over the years. The track has provided some fascinating on-track action as well as incidents. One of the most prominent instances was in 2018. When the two Red Bulls of Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo collided on the main straight leading to a double DNF for the Milton Keynes team. Red Bull would hope that this is not repeated during this season’s race in Baku, but there have been…tensions leading up to it.

Back to 2018. Ricciardo and Verstappen qualified for P4 and P5 respectively for the race. Both Red Bull drivers battled against one another throughout the season, as both were eager to solidify themselves as the lead driver at Milton Keynes. On race day, the Dutchman suffered an issue with the Kinetic Energy Recovery System that saw him struggle in keeping cars behind.

Eventually, the battle came for P4 heated up between the Dutchman and his Australian teammate. Ricciardo and Verstappen swapped positions between themselves as they fought wheel-to-wheel. However, on lap 40 things took a disastrous turn for Red Bull. Daniel tried to overtake his teammate on the main straight as the two raced at over 200mph.

Verstappen tried to defend his position as his teammate swerved to overtake. The Dutchman decided to move under braking, which caught Ricciardo off-guard as the Australian crashed right into the back of Verstappen. This brought an end to the race for both Red Bull bringing home 0 points. Tensions grew immensely after the incident as both drivers avoided taking the blame.

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The Baku crash played a role in Daniel Ricciardo’s Red Bull exit

Daniel Ricciardo decided to leave Red Bull at the end of the 2018 season. Multiple reasons are cited for his decision to depart Milton Keynes. Although, the 33-year-old later stated that this incident was influential in his decision to not renew his Red Bull contract. He believed that the way the team decided to deal with the incident affected the Australian as he considered Max Verstappen as the main culprit for changing position under braking.

Ricciardo said, “We both got a talking to, putting it politely, but in my eyes, I felt like I was not really in the wrong even though I was the one that hit him. I think most people saw the double move.” The ‘Honey Badger’ insisted that he was considering leaving the team prior to this incident. Red Bull was often seen increasing its focus more on Verstappen during that period.

Ricciardo expressed his disappointment in Red Bull for not handling this crash properly. This played a part in him choosing not to stay at Milton Keynes. Instead, he went to start a new challenge with Renault. He stated, “I guess the way it was handled at the time didn’t sit too well with me, so that was like a little thing that bothered me. But it wasn’t the dealbreaker, if you know what I mean.”

Ricciardo mentioned that Red Bull considered both drivers at equal fault. However, the 33-year-old insisted that Verstappen’s move was the reason for this incident. Danny said, “I kind of felt like there was a bit of equal blame. And maybe that is me being a stubborn race car driver, but I didn’t feel it was an equal incident I guess. That is the easiest way to put it.”

The Australian driver shifted from Renault to McLaren in 2021 after losing faith in the French team. Unfortunately, things only got worse for him as he was ousted from McLaren at the end of 2022, and replaced by Oscar Piastri, a young compatriot. Now, he’s back at Red Bull, but in a third-driver capacity. It’s hard to see him being back in the main seat, so it’s more of a ‘transitional’ job.

Sour relations between Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez

The 2023 F1 season has exposed tense relations at Red Bull. Sergio Perez joined the Austrian team in 2021 and worked perfectly as the ‘second driver’ in 2021. Although the Mexican driver was frustrated after the Dutchman decided not to follow team orders in 2022, at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix. This caused Perez to lose out on the runner-up spot in the championship.

In 2023, Perez insists on finally taking up the title fight with Max Verstappen. Checo believes that Red Bull must provide equal opportunities to its drivers. Team Principal Christian Horner had expressed the team’s intention of treating the drivers equally. However, it appears that Verstappen will not let his teammate have an easy drive to victory. Once again, ignoring team orders, he snatched the fastest lap in Jeddah.

Moreover, Verstappen was adamant that he could’ve defeated his teammate for the race win in Jeddah if not for the reliability issues during Qualifying. A driveshaft issue had dropped the Dutchman to P15 for the race. He even denied being happy for the team after Perez’s victory; the two-time world champion stated that he will only be happy if he was the one who came out on top.

What this means for the Azerbaijan GP

Subsequently, it is clear that the two-time champion is convinced that he can beat his teammate at every instance. While Sergio demands the chance to battle it out with his teammate. Thus, both drivers will not be backing down when it comes to fighting against each other. This could become a spanner in the works for Red Bull in the tight streets of Baku. Although, the team will have no choice but to let its drivers race for victory.

If an incident does take place between the two drivers, the Austrian team must take a fine line to avoid further escalation. As such a scenario will only make things worse for the latter half of the season. Red Bull would want to avoid the situation faced by Mercedes in the early turbo hybrid era when Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg became arch-rivals within the team.

So, the upcoming Azerbaijan GP could indeed become a nightmare for Red Bull Racing. Both Verstappen and Perez will give in everything for the race to win. This could potentially take a turn for the worse which might make the drivers contemplate the situation at the team. The team must handle the situation properly acknowledging the views of both drivers to prevent a repeat of the 2018 incident that saw Ricciardo leave the team.

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