Ricciardo Apologises after Hulkenberg Clash at Italian GP: ‘I Thought We Had Space

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

Daniel Ricciardo responds to clash with Haas at the Formula 1 Italian Grand Prix

Daniel Ricciardo mentioned that he apologized to Nico Hulkenberg after they collided during the first lap of the Formula 1 Italian Grand Prix.

During the first lap of the Monza race on Sunday, Red Bull driver Ricciardo and Hulkenberg collided at Turn 8 while competing in the middle of the pack.

Ricciardo mentioned that he believed he had enough room, but then experienced a collision. This resulted in Hulkenberg's Haas being pushed onto the dirt, allowing Kevin Magnussen, his teammate, to overtake.

The Australian racer received a five-second penalty due to the incident, but subsequently had to serve a 10-second penalty because one of his mechanics made contact with his car while he was serving the initial penalty during his pitstop.

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

“In the end, we didn’t have the speed today, even without considering the penalties,” he stated.

"We gave it our all, 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 believed there was enough space, but I felt the impact, indicating I didn't leave sufficient room, so I apologized."

"It's challenging because you compete intensely, but even the tiniest differences can have a significant impact."

"The car's performance was decent afterward, and we gave it our all with the resources available. I've been striving to extract the best from the vehicle since Friday afternoon up to this point."

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

Tsunoda felt 'frustrated'

The Italian Grand Prix for Red Bull was shaped by Nico Hulkenberg, as per team member Laurent Mekies. An incident between Hulkenberg and Yuki Tsunoda led to the Japanese driver's early exit from the race.

"I'm quite upset; it's disappointing because my race ended just a few laps in after colliding with Nico," Tsunoda remarked.

"I attempted to give as much room as I could, but it appears he froze, leading to a loss of control and a collision with my vehicle."

"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 vehicle was skidding and I just couldn’t control it.

"We're heading to Baku and Singapore next, where our car is expected to perform well. Hopefully, we'll have successful weekends at both events."

Mekies is frustrated about the Tsunoda incident because it caused him to lose important track time with the upgraded RB car that was brought 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, and then Nico collided with Yuki, which ultimately resulted in us having to retire the car," he stated.

"The most aggravating part of Yuki's retirement is that we missed out on 40 laps which would have given us better insight into the new updates we implemented here."

"Daniel was given an additional 10-second penalty because we failed to properly carry out the initial one."

"We must re-evaluate our protocols in this situation and take lessons from the error made today. Although such incidents occur, our pit crew's performance has been outstanding overall this season."

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