SPIELBERG, Austria -- Red Bull has sided with Max Verstappen after its two drivers squabbled over track position during qualifying at the Austrian Grand Prix.
The internal dispute played out over the team's pit-to-car radio on Saturday afternoon as both drivers tried to position themselves behind the other in order to gain a slipstream advantage on their Q3 qualifying laps.
In order to avoid such arguments, the team has a rule in place that alternates which driver leaves the garage first from race to race. In Austria it was Ricciardo's turn to go out first -- thereby giving the slipstream advantage to Verstappen -- but he felt the roles should have been reversed on at least one of his three qualifying attempts in Q3 in order to give him a fair shot at beating his teammate.
On the second of the three runs he backed Verstappen up on his outlap before the team ordered him to speed up, leading to a radio message from Ricciardo saying: "There's no point in me running -- [I'm just] punching a hole [in the air]". He tried the same on the final run, at which point Verstappen's engineer instructed him to pass, but Verstappen ignored the order, saying: "No. Last weekend I was in front, now he is in front ... it's discipline".
Red Bull team boss Christian Horner told Sky Sports that the rules around the running order were clear before the session and it was Ricciardo who was out of line.
"We have a very simple policy here that we have operated for the last seven years that we alternate, from weekend to weekend, who drives out the garage first," Horner said. "That's the only way to keep it scrupulously fair from circuit to circuit, so this weekend was Daniel's time to drive out of the garage first instead of Max and obviously he felt that Max might be benefiting from that, so that's why he decided to back up a bit.
"The drivers know explicitly that every weekend it alternates. So last weekend Max drove out first and Daniel followed him and next weekend it will be the other way round. Even in the debrief, from weekend to weekend, it varies who talks first. So it's the way to keep it as scrupulously fair as we can."
Ricciardo, who values the slipstream benefit at 0.2s, qualified seventh overall -- 0.156s off Verstappen. To make matters worse for the Australian, the two Red Bulls will be split by Romain Grosjean and Sebastian Vettel on the grid after the Ferrari driver was given a three-place penalty.
Ricciardo admitted he should have been more explicit in raising his concerns ahead of the session, but stood by his belief that the order could have been reversed on at least one of the three Q3 runs.
Asked if he felt he had been stitched up, Ricciardo said: "During the heat of it all, I thought so. I've had a few discussions since with Christian and with my engineer and I think that, while I had my concerns, I probably expected some of that to be obvious and I didn't bring everything up before qualifying thinking it was a bit more obvious than it was.
"I think I probably should have just talked about it more beforehand. I had concerns and I spoke a bit with my engineer about it, but I guess as a team it wasn't discussed. So from their point of view, when it gets into qualifying and they see us playing cat and mouse, they want to know what's going on. But in my mind, in the car, I was just like 'Well, it's obvious what's happening, isn't it? Give me a run where I'm getting a tow instead of giving everyone else a tow'.
"It was probably miscommunication and if we talked about it maybe it would be different. I think during Q3 it was obvious what we were trying to do and for that last run I thought I would get a chance to have a tow, but I guess by that point I didn't want to push the air again and Max didn't want to give me a tow, so from his point of view it was like 'Well, we never talked about it so I'm staying where I am' and I was like 'This isn't fair, so someone do something'. So there was a bit of frustration from both probably."
Verstappen argued that he played by the rules and it was Ricciardo who was trying to upset the normal run of things.
"He tried to put us against each other but it makes no sense. I think it's quite clear. Last weekend I was ahead and the weekend before he was ahead, that's how we do it."
Asked why he didn't obey his engineer's order to let Ricciardo through, Verstappen added: "Because I stick to the plan, and they only said to me to overtake because he was driving so slow so it's just for the tyres. But yeah I think it's quite clear. Also Daniel explained it already to you guys."
But Ricciardo played down suggestions a rift was developing between the two sides of the garage.
"It is not like it caught me by surprise," he said. "He knew what I was trying to do, I knew what he was trying to do. It was just a bit frustrating. At that point we both don't want to give an inch, fair enough. We are both trying to beat each other.
"But I was like can the team step in and try and swap us or send him out first? That is where I was frustrated because I knew the mind games in a way we were playing, but as long as I kept getting sent out first it wasn't going to change. So I was frustrated with the situation."