Mercedes chairman - and three-time world champion - Niki Lauda, believes that Max Verstappen must accept the majority of the blame for the incident which saw both Red Bulls crash out of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix yesterday as they battled for forth position.

Having battled for much of the race, with Verstappen appearing to deliberately hit and force his teammate wide at one stage, the pair finally came to grief on the 39th lap in an incident that was to totally change the shape of the race.

As Red Bull's Christian Horner, Helmut Marko and Adrian Newey did their very best to hide their disgust - all clearly failing - Lauda was asked what he would do in their situation.

"Go home and cry!" he admitted.

"No, it's a disaster," he continued, the Austrian having witnessed such an incident when Lewis Hamilton was partnered by Nico Rosberg. "We had it once.

"For me, it is 70 percent Verstappen and 30 percent Ricciardo," he added. "He was moving on him all the time, where can the poor guy go?"

Asked how he would deal with the situation - which has happened in the past, not only with Verstappen and Ricciardo, but previously with Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel, Lauda admitted: "I would bring them in the office together with Toto, and tell them how much less they will get paid because of the damage they have done. Really, we thought about this once but we didn't have to do it."

However, Red Bull's motor sport advisor - and Lord High Executioner - Helmut Marko, believes both were to blame.

"It was a racing accident between the two," he told Sky Sports, "there was not more fault for one or the other.

"We always let the drivers race, we don't have a number one, we don't have a number two, but we expect responsibility from the drivers."

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by Fambank, 01/05/2018 7:43

"I read Max Mosley initially. "

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2. Posted by -ape-, 30/04/2018 18:59

"This is racing and afterwards they BOTH apologize. Great.
When Lewis and Nico collided they blamed each other. Depends on the team admosphere Mr Lauda"

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3. Posted by C5, 30/04/2018 14:29

"I can only agree with all the previous posters. Verstappen really out-asshatted himself on this one.

And he still doesn't apear to be at a point where he seems to understand. Sending him back to Toro Rosso for 2-3 races, and @imejl99 suggest seems like a brilliant idea to me.
"

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4. Posted by Motorsport-fan, 30/04/2018 10:21

"If this had been a Red Bull trying to pass a Mercedes or Ferrari, Red Bull would have protested a double block move, no question."

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5. Posted by imejl99, 30/04/2018 9:43

"Anyone could explain to me what did Verstappen do so far in his F1 career to earn this much letting of the hook? He got some exclusives on double move? Mr. Horner and Mr. Marko could help that growing up with Gasly swap, for few races."

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6. Posted by Mad Matt, 30/04/2018 8:09

"I tend to agree with Spindoctor. Max's habit of watching his mirrors and moving to block was always going to lead to an accident like this.

Up to that point it had been fun to see them race and I was impressed that they didn't rip each other apart in the press and both appeared to accept some of the blame."

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7. Posted by Spindoctor, 30/04/2018 7:49

"I have to agree with Niki Lauder.
When Ricciardo dummied Max he clearly moved to the right - that was his one permitted "move". Ricciardo did what any racer would have done and went for what should have been an open door - until Verstappen closed it when he saw Daniel coming down the inside. Verstappen made 2 moves, the second back to the left, and the inevitable happened.

Whilst this was certainly a "racing incident", and different views are inevitable, Verstappen had driven very aggressively throughout the race, and whilst we want racing I don't particularly want F1 to turn into a more expensive BTTC."

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Lauda: Max mostly to blame

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