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Daniel Ricciardo has blasted Lance Stroll for failing to take responsibility for their collision under the Safety Car at the Chinese Grand Prix.
After qualifying for Sunday’s race in P12, Ricciardo had a great opportunity to score his first points of the season after having a difficult start to the season.
However, what seemed like a promising opportunity for the RB driver to begin with at the Chinese Grand Prix soon faded. As the field were getting ready to go racing again on lap 27 after being under the Safety Car conditions, Fernando Alonso’s lock-up into the Turn 14 hairpin caused drivers behind to brake sharply.
This then led to the Spaniard’s Aston Martin team-mate Stroll going straight into the back of Ricciardo before the restart. This caused the Australian’s car to lift up, which in the process damaged the honey badger’s floor and rear as well as Stroll’s front wing.
Despite the Canadian driver receiving a 10 second penalty by the FIA race stewards for causing a collision, Ricciardo’s damage was too severe to continue as he pulled into the pits at the end of lap 34 to retire from the grand prix.
Daniel Ricciardo's race came to a bumpy end behind the Safety Car ? ?#F1 #ChineseGP pic.twitter.com/4ks8SVpuFA
— Formula 1 (@F1) April 21, 2024
Ricciardo puts full blame on Stroll
Speaking to the media, including motorsport.com after the race, Ricciardo admitted to feeling that furious with Stroll that it made his blood boil as replays of the on-track altercation between the two drivers showed that Stroll was not properly paying attention to Ricciardo.
“Maybe in an hour, when he sees it, he might take some accountability. But if he doesn’t, I can’t help him, nor can anyone here,” Ricciardo said.
“It’s so frustrating. Obviously, racing incidents happen, but behind a safety car, that should never happen.”
“What made my blood boil is I watched his onboard, to just see it from his perspective. And as soon as we start braking, you can see his helmet turn right and he’s looking at the apex of Turn 14, he’s not even watching me. And then when he looks back, he’s in the back of me.”
“I don’t know what he’s doing, where his head is, but all he has to do is worry about me in that situation, and he clearly wasn’t. Let’s see what he says in the media, but if he comes after me, then I’ll say more.”
Stroll’s team radio enrages Ricciardo even more
Ricciardo was left feeling even more angry with Stroll after he was shown the Canadian’s reaction to the incident on his team radio, as he appeared to blame the RB driver.
“I’d slowly started to calm down, and then I was told what Lance thinks of the incident. Apparently, I’m an idiot, and it was my fault. That made my blood boil, because it’s clear as day and it’s also behind a safety car.”
“The only thing you’ve got to do is watch the car in front. We can’t predict what the leader’s gonna do. The race doesn’t start until the control line.”
“I’m doing my best not to say what I want to say, but f**k that guy. And I’m being nice, too! But if that’s what he thinks…”
Whilst Stroll did say on reflection after the race that his comments were not aimed at Ricciardo, the damage has already been done, with the Aussie still having failed to score a single point so far in 2024.
What makes matters even worse is that he will have to deal with a three-place grid penalty next time out in Miami for a Safety Car infringement. Will Ricciardo be able to turn his poor start to the season round?
Feature Image Credit: (Photo by Qian Jun/MB Media/Getty Images)
