Daniel Ricciardo said Esteban Gutierrez is doing "a less good job" than any other driver at obeying blue flags after complaining about him at the German Grand Prix.
While negotiating traffic late in the race, Ricciardo took to his radio to sarcastically tell Red Bull: "Esteban is my favourite, I love this guy." The response from race engineer Simon Rennie was: "Don't worry, he's doing this to everybody, not just you."
It comes just a week after Lewis Hamilton made a rude gesture from the cockpit towards the Haas driver after being held up in Hungary, something Gutierrez complained had been disrespectful. Ricciardo said his frustration was compounded by the fact other drivers have recently voiced their displeasure to the Haas driver.
Explaining his radio message, Ricciardo said: "To be honest, off the track I have no problem at all with Esteban. I actually think he's one of the nicest guys! But just on the track lately, it's come up at the last few races, a few of us haven't been that impressed with the blue flags.
"We've discussed it in drivers meetings. I've been in that position, I know that it sucks to move out of the line and let the leaders through. But it just seems in particular in the last few races everyone else is doing an OK job and it seems like he's doing a less good job than the othes.
"A bit of frustration - I was obviously trying to say that as politely as possible. But yeah, I think because he's been told that some of us aren't that impressed with his blue flag [driving] I thought the message would have gone through. But today ... I lost more time behind him than anyone else."