Ricciardo: Incident With Tsunoda Put RB In 'Better Place Than It Was'

Monday, 18 March 2024 at 19:30

Daniel Ricciardo reflected on the controversial incident between him and his teammate Yuki Tsunoda, saying it ultimately improved the team.

The two RB drivers are fighting not only for survival this season but also potentially for a seat in the team that will be the favorite to win the Championship next season: Red Bull Racing.

Helmut Marko suggested that one of the drivers who beat the other would be considered for the seat alongside Max Verstappen, which led to a bit of a tense situation between the two teammates.

This tension became apparent during the first race of the season when Yuki Tsunoda refused to let his teammate through, didn't receive his position back before the end of the race, divebombed, and almost collided with Ricciardo on a cooldown lap.

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The Honey Badger called his teammate immature in interviews right after the race. However, the 34-year-old later told the media that the situation was resolved during the private briefing right after the race. He now spoke more about the topic during in the interview for theage.com.au:

"No one's going to benefit from us having a rivalry or attention or anything like this from race one of a long season."

"Especially when the team has new personnel. Everyone's trying to pick each other up and build themselves and the confidence, we need to help them do that as well."

Riccirado and Tsunoda now seem to be on the same page and had no issues during the following race in Saudi Arabia. The Honey Badger acknowledged that the incident "wasn't great" but also suggested it might have been needed, as he believes the team is in a better place now.

"What happened at the end of the race wasn't great, but two hours later, we walked out of a meeting [and] actually put the team in a better place than it was."