Max Verstappen says he'll try to smooth over his relationship with teammate Daniel Ricciardo after enraging the Australian by ending his Hungarian Grand Prix on the opening lap.
Verstappen apologised after driving into the side of the Ricciardo's Red Bull car as they came through the fourth turn, although he insisted it was accidental.
Ricciardo, who maintains fourth place in the Formula One championship standings, had passed the 19-year-old into turn two to move up to fourth having started from sixth on the grid.
The teammates started the 11th race of the season positively, both jumping the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton on the first turn at Hungaroring.
But the crash ended the race for Ricciardo, who went off the circuit and was losing oil. It sparked an angry reaction from Ricciardo over the team radio.
"Someone hit me. Is that who I think it was?" Ricciardo asked his race engineer.
"Yes," came the reply from Red Bull, and then Ricciardo did not mince his words.
"F****ng sore loser," Ricciardo said.
While the incident ended Ricciardo's race, Verstappen was given a 10-second penalty but still managed to finish fifth as he barrelled down on Hamilton late in the race.
Ricciardo was still fuming when asked about the collision between the two Red Bulls.
"That was amateur to say the least," Ricciardo said. "It's not like he was trying to pass. He doesn't like people passing him.
"I didn't really know what happened. It's just frustrating - it was not even an overtaking move.
"It was an emotional response."
Ricciardo also called for Verstappen to take full responsibility.
"In that moment the team said sorry and they will speak to Max," Ricciardo added.
"Let's see if he acts his age, or like a man about it, and admits the error."
Verstappen offered up an apology immediately after the race.
"I apologise to Daniel and I will speak to him in private. We will sort it out."
Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel overcame steering difficulties to win the race, and extend his championship lead over rival Lewis Hamilton to 14 points heading into a break.
The four-time Formula One champion made a decent start from pole position, holding off teammate Kimi Raikkonen on the long straight into turn one. On a Hungaroring track where overtaking is notoriously hard, there were limited chances to catch him after that.
But Vettel was hampered by a steering issue for most of the race, allowing the Mercedes to close the gap on him and Raikkonen - who in turn was being slowed by Vettel.
"I'm over the moon," Vettel said. "The steering started to go sideways and it got worse. I really had to stay focused the whole race."
Vettel held on for his 46th career win, while Raikkonen expertly defended his position for a Ferrari 1-2.
- AP