24/04/2024
NEWS STORY
Daniel Ricciardo hits out at Lance Stroll for incident which ended the Australian's hopes of his first points finish of the year.
Stroll was handed a 10s penalty - and 2 penalty points - for the incident in which he collided with Ricciardo at Turn 14 ahead of the withdrawal of the Safety Car.
According to the stewards, the cars were all travelling slowly to set up for the restart when Stroll slowed down to take the corner and also try to match the pace of the group of cars in front.
He then collided with Ricciardo, the stewards feeling that the Canadian ought to have anticipated the pace of the cars in front, particularly the RB, and should have been prepared to brake accordingly.
Had he done that, they felt, it would have avoided the collision. Consequently, Stroll was "predominantly to blame for the collision that ultimately led to Ricciardo having to retire from the race".
However, talking on his radio in the moments after the incident, Stroll blamed the RB driver, and when told of the time penalty responded: "Unbelievable man!"
"I'd slowly started to calm down, and then I was told what Lance thinks of the incident," said Ricciardo after the race. "Apparently, I'm an idiot, and it was my fault.
"That made my blood boil," he admitted, "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," he continued. "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*** that guy... and I'm being nice, too! But if that's what he thinks..."
According to Ricciardo, onboard footage confirmed that Stroll had not been looking at the car in front as his helmet was facing the apex of the corner ahead.
"Concertina effects," said the Canadian at race end. "Someone braked at the front of the pack, I don't know who, and then everyone stops. The car in front of me just stopped from like 60 to zero, so a really stupid incident. It was one of those."
Asked about his radio message, he said: "I don't think it was him (Ricciardo). Everyone just slammed on the brakes and he was the guy in front of me.
"It's just because of the fact that I hit the guy," he said of the penalty. "But someone hit the brakes and caused the concertina. I don't know who but I got a penalty because of the end result that I hit Ricciardo, but it's not like, everything was normal and I just slammed into the back of him."
Asked if the incident was due to him not paying proper attention - which is what the stewards claim - he replied: "No, no, if someone didn't hit the brakes in front, there wouldn't have been any concertina effect, there wouldn't have been any issues."
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