SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS, Belgium -- With the dust settled from their clash at the Hungarian Grand Prix, Daniel Ricciardo is certain Red Bull teammate Max Verstappen will "iron out" his first-lap collisions as he matures.
Ricciardo was livid with the 19-year-old -- calling him a "sore loser" over radio -- after being punted out of the race at the Hungaroring on the opening lap, denying Red Bull the chance of a strong points finish. The pair cleared the air in the hours after the incident.
It marked another early race incident for Verstappen; the teenager retired after a tangle with Kimi Raikkonen in Spain and avoided serious damage when he brushed Sebastian Vettel at the first corner in Canada.
"It will get ironed out," Ricciardo said of his teammate's feisty starts. "It is probably similar to the start [in Belgium] last year. He had a front row and did not get the best jump and it was like I will try and make it up straight away. OK, there was a gap on the inside, but it was always going to bottle neck.
"It is those little things which where it is not the first time he has done that but is it a weakness? I don't know if it is a weakness, it will get ironed out over time, it is probably just youth at the moment. I am not trying to school him or anything. It was not the first time he had done a first lap move like that."
Having had time to reflect on the clash, Ricciardo admitted he sees some similarities with his early years at Red Bull in how Verstappen has approached a season which has seen the team fall well short of lofty pre-season expectations.
"It is hard to criticize a driving style for trying too hard. You will make mistakes. It is the right mindset to want to capitalize and make the most of everything. But in terms of you also have to be realistic.
"It was like me in 2015, I was 'we are going to win the championship', and then I was like 'what's going on?' It took a few races for me to realize that was not going to happen. So you have to settle.
"That comes with age and experience. You are young and hungry and just want to go go go. Sometimes when somene tells you 'no' you are like 'yes!' If we don't have the car to win, sometimes you don't want to hear it, or refuse to believe it, and then maybe that creates the driving style or frustration.
"But at the same time, looking back now it was an unfortunate situation because we are teammates as well. But generally speaking, he has had some DNFs, but he has driven better than last year, not just from the speed point of view but of race craft of view."