Ricciardo costs Mercedes: "At the very least I'll say sorry for now"

Pole sitter Valtteri Bottas had a nightmare of a race in Mexico City. At the start, he failed to keep Max Verstappen firmly in his mirrors and then got nudged by Daniel Ricciardo. Bottas' spin sent him to the back of the grid and he spent much of the afternoon trying to overtake the Australian. Ricciardo offers his apology for the incident which could have major implications on Mercedes bid for the Constructors title. 

At the chequered flag, Mercedes' lead over Red Bull was cut to a single point. Bottas was unable to score, and Hamilton's second-place finish didn't score the German team enough points when both Red Bull drivers reached the podium. Ricciardo reviews the incident which knocked Bottas. 

"I still haven't seen a full replay. The first few hundred meters are always fun because there are so many slipstreams and there's chaos. Under braking, I think there was room on the inside with Perez, it's one of those if you don't go for the gap then someone else would. I thought it was a reasonable gap to go for," Ricciardo said on Sky Sports.

"As we got to the apex everyone closed in, I locked and at that moment Bottas came across. We hit and I apologise to him. Without seeing it, I'm the one that went into him so at the very least I'll say sorry for now and see if there's much I could've done or if it's a turn one incident."

McLaren v Ferrari 

It wasn't only Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes who lost significant points during the Mexican Grand Prix weekend. McLaren had a poor race and saw Ferrari gain a big advantage in the Constructors Championship after the race around the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez. The Italian's now have a 14 point lead going into the final four races. 

The battle at the top of the championship is drawing all the attention in 2021, but the battle for the 'best of the rest' remains exciting. McLaren driver Lando Norris analyses the situation. 

"Disappointing because Ferrari had a decent day and we didn't. We can't give up! Of course, there are four races to go. It's not a lot, we have some good weekends coming up and we'll keep working hard to try and recover. They're looking strong and they've done a good job the last few weekends. It's going to be tough but we'll keep fighting," Norris said.