16/09/2025 20:00
The 2025 Azerbaijan Grand Prix marks seven seasons since one of the
most infamous incidents to take place at the Baku City Circuit,
when Daniel Ricciardo careered into the back of Max Verstappen in
their last campaign as Red Bull team-mates. It was a contentious
incident and ultimately played a significant part in reshaping the
Milton Keynes team's future, as the Australian driver decided to
leave for Renault at the end of the year. The 2018 Azerbaijan Grand
Prix will forever be remembered as the moment Ricciardo and
Verstappen's simmering rivalry boiled over into disaster, costing
Red Bull valuable points and creating fractures that would never
fully heal. The crash between the pair did not come out of nowhere.
By 2018, Red Bull found itself firmly entrenched as the
third-fastest team, consistently battling for fourth and fifth
positions rather than victories. Verstappen arrived in Baku under
particular scrutiny, having been involved in incidents at all four
preceding races and sitting eighth in the championship with just 18
points. Meanwhile, Red Bull trailed Ferrari by 59 points in the
constructors' standings, despite Ricciardo winning the preceding
round in China. The race itself became a microcosm of their
season-long tensions, with both drivers banging wheels and coming
precariously close to the barriers as they fought through Baku's
narrow confines. Fatal sequence and aftermath What happened on the
fateful lap 40 remains one of F1's most analysed crashes. The two
drivers clashed numerous times in the opening phase of the race as
they battled over fourth position. After Ricciardo had successfully
overtaken Verstappen - after multiple moves between them - and
gained crucial pitstop priority, a poor out-lap allowed his
team-mate to regain position through strategy, setting up another
confrontation. As Ricciardo charged down the main straight with DRS
activated, Verstappen began weaving to break the slipstream effect.
In the crucial moments before impact, Ricciardo feinted right
before switching left towards Turn 1, but Verstappen's instinctive
defensive move in the braking zone proved fatal. Ricciardo slammed
into the back of his team-mate, sending both into retirement. "You
lose all downforce and everything. Even the brakes, they lock a lot
easier when you don't have the downforce on," Ricciardo later
explained, describing how Verstappen's positioning left him as "a
passenger" unable to control his car. Christian Horner's immediate
reaction revealed the depth of Red Bull's frustration. "This was
the culmination of two guys taking things into their own hands,
which shouldn't have happened," he fumed, summoning both drivers to
apologise to the entire Milton Keynes workforce before the Spanish
Grand Prix. Verstappen took a diplomatic approach publicly,
insisting they didn't "need to speak about who was at fault" and
maintaining their relationship remained intact. Both received
reprimands from the stewards rather than grid penalties. However,
Ricciardo's private feelings were far more complex. Years later, he
admitted: "As soon as I crashed into him, part of me felt, 'you
guys deserved this, that was a shitshow'." He questioned whether
Red Bull would have handled the situation differently had roles
been reversed, asking: "If I'd been in front and moved twice in the
braking area and he'd run up the back of me, would things have been
handled the same way?" The long shadow Though Ricciardo's shock
departure to Renault was not directly attributed to the Azerbaijan
crash, the incident clearly contributed to his disillusionment with
Red Bull's handling of internal conflicts. His contract
negotiations had stalled, and the Baku collision represented a
tipping point in their deteriorating relationship. Meanwhile,
Verstappen's trajectory took a dramatically different path. From
that troubled 2018 season, he transformed into one of F1's most
dominant forces, capturing four consecutive world championships
from 2021 to 2024 and amassing 66 career victories to date. The
contrast couldn't be starker. While Ricciardo struggled through
difficult stints at Renault and McLaren before eventually stepping
back from full-time competition, Verstappen established himself
among the sport's all-time greats, joining the exclusive club of
quadruple world champions. That split-second collision in Baku
proved to be more than just a racing incident. It was the moment
that reshaped Red Bull's future, ending one partnership while
launching another driver towards F1 immortality.
