Daniel Ricciardo said there was nothing he could do to avoid Sebastian Vettel after making contact with his former team-mate at Turn 1 in Mexico.
A slow getaway from Vettel at the start saw him drop behind Daniil Kvyat and then come under immediate pressure from Ricciardo in the other Red Bull. Ricciardo got the inside line but appeared to make contact with Vettel as the Ferrari driver, who was paired with him at Red Bull last year, took the corner.
The incident gave Vettel a puncture and forced a pit stop, taking the German out of podium contention and leaving him upset with Ricciardo's driving. However Ricciardo said he was right on the apex and Vettel left him nowhere to go.
"I was just there and wasn't necessarily making a move or anything, but at the start you're all sort of bunched up," Ricciardo explained. "I was just there on the inside, I didn't feel like I could go anywhere else and he just basically took the apex as if I wasn't there. I don't really know what else I could have done."
Though Vettel vented his frustration over race radio the race stewards took no further action and absolved either driver of blame. Having seen a replay after the race Vettel admitted there was little Ricciardo could have done but remained confused by what the Red Bull driver wanted to achieve.
"I've seen the accident at the start on TV," Vettel said. "Initially I was pretty angry because I had a puncture and the race was lost, but having seen it, given it was the start of the race I think it was correct not to take any action. I don't think Danny had anywhere to go, but, equally, he was trying but there was no gap there.
"It's a difficult judgement to make, I saw him at the last second and moved over to give him more room but it was too late, as he was too quick for the line he was trying to take. We touched, but you cannot give anyone a penalty for something like that because no one does that on purpose. I'm not blaming him but it was a shame for us."