Daniel Ricciardo has backed Red Bull team-mate Max Verstappen to cut out his first-lap errors as he becomes more experienced in F1.

The highly-rated teenager was forced to retire after colliding with Kimi Raikkonen in Spain and he was then lucky not to avoid a similar fate when he clashed with Sebastian Vettel at the first corner in Canada.

Ricciardo says Verstappen needs to calm down early on in races but he expects his team-mate to improve in the future.

"It will get ironed out," Ricciardo said. "It is probably similar to the start [in Belgium] last year. He had a front row and did not get the best jump and it was like I will try and make it up straight away. OK, there was a gap on the inside, but it was always going to bottle neck.

"It is those little things which where it is not the first time he has done that but is it a weakness? I don't know if it is a weakness, it will get ironed out over time, it is probably just youth at the moment.

"I am not trying to school him or anything. It was not the first time he had done a first lap move like that."

The F1 season resumes following the summer break with this weekend's Belgian GP at Spa.