Daniel Ricciardo Reflects on Italian GP Clash with Nico Hulkenberg: Apologies and Penalties Mar Monza Performance

Daniel Ricciardo comments on his collision with Nico Hulkenberg: “I believed we had enough room; I said sorry”

Daniel Ricciardo responds to the incident involving Haas during the Italian Grand Prix in Formula 1.

Daniel Ricciardo mentioned that he offered an apology to Nico Hulkenberg after the two drivers collided on the first lap of the Formula 1 Italian Grand Prix.

Red Bull driver Ricciardo was competing against Hulkenberg in the middle of the field 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 – resulting in Hulkenberg's Haas being pushed onto the dirt and losing a position to his teammate, Kevin Magnussen.

An Australian driver received a five-second penalty for an incident, but later had to serve an additional 10-second penalty because a mechanic touched his car while he was serving the initial penalty during a pitstop.

Ricciardo wrapped up a challenging race at his home circuit for the Red Bull team, finishing in 13th place.

"At the end of the day, we simply weren't fast enough today, regardless of the penalties," he stated.

"We gave it our best shot, 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 had a conversation with him. I believed there was enough space, but I felt the collision, so I hadn't left him sufficient room. I apologized for that.

“It's challenging because you push yourself to the limit, but even tiny differences can have a big impact.”

"The car performed adequately, and we gave it our all with the resources available. Since Friday afternoon, I've been striving to extract the utmost potential from the vehicle until today."

“I’m feeling much improved this weekend, and we were nearly able to earn some points.”

Tsunoda Felt "Frustrated"

Team member Laurent Mekies mentioned that RB's performance at the Italian GP was heavily influenced by Hulkenberg. A crash involving Haas driver Hulkenberg and Yuki Tsunoda led to the Japanese driver's race coming to an early end.

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

"I attempted to give plenty of room, but it appeared he froze, lost control, and collided with me."

“Regrettably, we had to pull the car out of the race due to damage sustained on the floor.

"I immediately noticed the issue and attempted to keep going, but the vehicle was skidding uncontrollably, and I just couldn't drive it."

"With Baku and Singapore coming up, our car is expected to do well, so we're optimistic about having successful weekends."

Mekies is upset about the Tsunoda incident because it cost him important practice time with the upgraded RB vehicle that was taken to Monza.

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

"The most exasperating 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 we failed to properly apply the initial one."

“We must reassess our protocols in light of this incident and take lessons from the error that occurred today. Although such issues can arise, our pit crew’s performance has largely been outstanding this season.”

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