Daniel Ricciardo Reflects on Hulkenberg Clash and Penalties at F1 Italian GP: ‘I Apologised

Daniel Ricciardo comments on incident with Nico Hulkenberg: “I believed there was enough room; I said sorry”

Daniel Ricciardo responds to collision with Haas at the F1 Italian Grand Prix

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

Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo and Nico Hulkenberg were contending for position in the midfield during the first lap of Sunday’s race at Monza when they collided at Turn 8.

Ricciardo mentioned that he believed he had enough room, but then experienced a collision. This incident pushed Hulkenberg's Haas onto the dirt, allowing his team-mate Kevin Magnussen to overtake.

An Australian driver received a five-second penalty due to an incident, but later had to endure an additional 10-second penalty because one of his mechanics touched the car during the initial penalty at his pitstop.

Ricciardo finished a difficult home race for the Red Bull team in 13th place.

"In the end, our speed wasn't sufficient today, even before considering the penalties," he remarked.

"We gave it our best effort, and I was having fun with the close racing early on, but I ended up colliding with Nico at Turn 8."

"After the race, I talked to him and explained that I believed we had enough space, but I felt the impact, so I realized I hadn't given him sufficient room. I apologized for that."

"It's challenging because you push yourself to the limit, but even the tiniest differences can have a significant impact."

"The car seemed fine afterward, and we gave it our all with the resources available to us. From Friday afternoon until today, I aimed to extract the best performance from the car."

"I personally feel much improved this weekend, and we nearly earned points."

Tsunoda was left feeling "frustrated" after the Italian Grand Prix. According to team member Laurent Mekies, the race was heavily influenced by Nico Hulkenberg, as a crash involving the Haas driver and Yuki Tsunoda resulted in the Japanese driver's early exit from the competition.

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

“I attempted to give ample room, but it appeared he froze up, leading him to lose control and collide with me.”

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

“I immediately sensed the issue and attempted to keep going, but the vehicle was skidding, making it impossible for me to control it.

"We're heading to Baku and Singapore next, and our vehicle is expected to do well at those locations. We’re anticipating successful weekends coming up."

Mekies is frustrated about the Tsunoda incident because it caused him to lose crucial track time with the new RB car that was introduced at Monza.

"Regarding today's race, it can be stated that Hulkenberg set the pace. Daniel received a five-second penalty for pushing him off the track. Subsequently, Nico collided with Yuki, which resulted in us having to retire the car," he explained.

"The most disappointing part of Yuki's retirement is missing out on 40 laps that could have helped us better understand the new updates we implemented here."

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

“We must evaluate our protocols in this situation and take lessons from the error made today. Although such issues arise occasionally, our pit crew has performed outstandingly overall this season.”

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