Daniel Ricciardo Apologizes for Hulkenberg Clash Amid Penalty-Plagued Italian GP

Daniel Ricciardo comments on the collision with Nico Hulkenberg: "I believed there was enough room; I said sorry"

Daniel Ricciardo addresses the incident involving Haas at the Italian Grand Prix in Formula 1

Daniel Ricciardo mentioned that he apologized to Nico Hulkenberg after the first-lap collision between them during the Italian Grand Prix in Formula 1.

During the first lap of Sunday’s race at Monza, RB driver Ricciardo and Hulkenberg were fighting for position in the middle of the pack when they collided at Turn 8.

Ricciardo mentioned that he believed he had enough room, but then experienced a collision – causing Hulkenberg's Haas to be pushed onto the dirt and lose a position to his teammate, Kevin Magnussen.

The Australian driver received a five-second penalty for the incident, but later had to serve a 10-second penalty because one of his mechanics touched the car while he was serving the initial penalty during his pitstop.

Ricciardo concluded a challenging race at his home track for the Red Bull team, finishing in 13th place.

“Overall, our speed wasn’t sufficient today, regardless of the penalties,” he stated.

"We made an effort, and I was having fun with the close racing at the beginning, but I ended up colliding with Nico in Turn 8."

"After the race, I had a conversation with him. I initially believed we had enough space, but then I felt the impact and realized I didn't leave him sufficient room, so I apologized."

“It’s challenging because you give your all, but even the tiniest differences can have a big impact.

"The car performed adequately afterward, and we exerted maximum effort with the resources available to us. From Friday afternoon until today, I aimed to extract the best performance from the car."

"From my perspective, I am feeling much improved this weekend, and we nearly managed to earn some points."

Tsunoda Leaves 'Frustrated'

RB's Italian Grand Prix was "controlled by Hulkenberg," team member Laurent Mekies stated, as an incident involving Haas driver Hulkenberg and Yuki Tsunoda brought the Japanese driver's race to a premature end.

"I feel quite disappointed; it's unfortunate that my race ended just a few laps in because of a collision with Nico," Tsunoda expressed.

"I attempted to give him plenty of room, but it appeared he froze up, resulting in him losing control and colliding with me."

“Regrettably, we had to withdraw the car from the race due to damage sustained to the floor.

“I noticed it immediately and attempted to keep going, but the car was skidding and I just couldn’t control it.”

"We're heading to Baku and Singapore next. Our car is expected to do well at those locations, so we're optimistic about having successful weekends coming up."

Mekies is frustrated with the Tsunoda incident because it caused him to lose crucial time on the track with the upgraded RB car that was brought to Monza.

"Today's race was largely controlled by Hulkenberg. Daniel received a five-second penalty for pushing him off the track. Subsequently, Nico collided with Yuki, which ultimately led to us having to retire the car," he stated.

"The most disappointing part of Yuki's retirement is missing out on 40 laps that could have enhanced our knowledge of the new updates we implemented at this event."

"Daniel was given an additional 10-second penalty because the initial one was not carried out properly."

"We must reassess our processes in light of this situation and glean lessons from the error made today. While such incidents occur, our pit crew's performance has been outstanding overall this season."

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