'No Excuce': Ricciardo Frustrated By Stroll Ruining His Race In China

Monday, 22 April 2024 at 02:00

Daniel Ricciardo and Lance Stroll had an incident at the 2024 Chinese Grand Prix, after which the RB driver was left really frustrated.

The 34-year-old Australian didn't have many good results in the 2024 F1 season, and when one was finally coming together at the Shanghai International Circuit, his race was destroyed by one of his opponents.

During Safety Car restart, Stroll hit him from behind, breaking his front wing as a result, and receiving a 10-second time penalty for the incident.

However, the Canadian didn't ruin only his race but also Ricciardo's, as the Australian driver couldn't continue and had to retire his car, and after the race, he was really furious.

"It's a restart and we don't know what the lead is going to do so you have to be as vigilant as ever and be prepared for any situation. I could see it was bunching up into the hairpins so everyone's backing up."

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Despite understanding that the situation during the Safety Car restart can be very close, the Australian driver emphasized that he didn't only get a gentle tap from the back, but a proper hit.

"But then how hard he's hit me and pretty much put half his car under mine, it wasn't a small lack of judgment, it was miles off. For that for me, there is obviously no excuse."

On top of that, Ricciardo admitted that he watched Stroll's on-board footage, which, according to the Honey Badger, suggested that the Canadian wasn't even looking at the driver ahead of him.

"I think what is frutrating is that I watched his onboard and he's not even looking at me. If you see his helmet, he's looking at the apex of the corner. I don't know why he's not looking at the car in front, but unless his eyes are doing something funny, but it looked like he wasn't looking at me and I think it shows how hard he hit me."