Ricciardo says he never intended to upset Verstappen with pole celebrations

Daniel Ricciardo was elated when he stepped out of the cockpit last Saturday in pole position. He denied his team-mate, Max Verstappen, of P1 by half a cars length. Having finished top of the pile in practice, Verstappen was clearly upset with P2.

Ricciardo says his celebrations were not intended to rile Verstappen. If the Dutchman was on pole, he'd have become the youngest pole sitter in F1, a record which he has just two races left to break.

The celebrations from Ricciardo were fuelled by previous heartbreak in qualifying. In the previous week, the Australian's RB14 broke down causing him to punch a hole in the garage wall.

"I was aware Max was pissed after qualy, in the press conference and that you could tell he was not too pleased. I don't think it was really directed at me," Ricciardo said in an interview on Crash.

“I think anyone missing their first pole by such a small margin is going to be pissed. Even if I missed that pole, if I was in his shoes, even if it was not for my first pole, I would still be upset. That is the competitor in us.

"I didn’t see it as anything personal like I was rubbing it in. I was super happy because it has been a tough year. I was the underdog in that fight for pole. So to do it, I was pretty stoked."