**”Drama at Monza: Ricciardo Apologizes to Hulkenberg After Collision, RB Team Faces Penalty Woes”**

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

Daniel Ricciardo addresses the collision with Haas during the F1 Italian Grand Prix

Daniel Ricciardo mentioned that he offered an apology to Nico Hulkenberg after the first-lap crash between them during the Formula 1 Italian Grand Prix.

Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo found himself in a tussle with Nico Hulkenberg in the middle of the pack during the first lap of the race at Monza on Sunday, with the two making contact 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.

The Australian driver initially received a five-second penalty for the incident. However, he later faced an additional 10-second penalty because one of his mechanics touched his car during the first penalty at the pit stop.

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

"In the end, we weren't fast enough today, even without the penalties," he stated.

"We gave it a shot, and I was having fun with the close racing at the beginning, but I ended up colliding with Nico at Turn 8."

"After the race, I had a conversation with him. I initially believed there was enough space, but I felt the collision, so I must not have 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 big impact."

"The car performed well afterward, and we gave it our all with the resources available to us. I aimed to extract the utmost performance from the vehicle starting from Friday afternoon up until today."

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

Tsunoda 'frustrated' after race

The Italian Grand Prix for Red Bull was heavily influenced by Nico Hulkenberg, according to team member Laurent Mekies. A collision between the Haas driver and Yuki Tsunoda led to the Japanese driver's race coming to an early end.

“I’m quite upset. It’s unfortunate that my race ended shortly after the start because of a collision with Nico,” Tsunoda expressed.

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

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

"I immediately sensed it and attempted to carry on, but the vehicle was skidding and I just couldn't control it."

"With Baku and Singapore coming up, our vehicle is expected to perform strongly at those circuits, so we’re optimistic about having successful weekends ahead."

Mekies is frustrated about the Tsunoda incident because it cost him important time on the track with the upgraded RB car that was introduced at Monza.

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

"The most disappointing part about Yuki retiring is that we missed out on 40 laps that would have given us more insight into the new updates we implemented here."

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

"We need to reassess our protocols given the current situation and take lessons from today's error. Although such incidents occur, our pit crew's performance has been outstanding overall this season."

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