Ricciardo Apologizes After Hulkenberg Clash at Italian GP: Penalties and Frustrations Dominate RB’s Weekend

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

Daniel Ricciardo responds to collision with Haas during the Formula 1 Italian Grand Prix

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

During the initial lap of the Monza race on Sunday, RB driver Ricciardo was competing with Hulkenberg in the middle of the pack when they collided at Turn 8.

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

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

Ricciardo wrapped up a difficult race on home turf for the Red Bull team, finishing in 13th place.

“In the end, we simply didn’t have the speed today, even excluding the penalties,” he stated.

"We gave it a shot, and I was having fun battling closely at the beginning, but I collided 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 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 performed satisfactorily afterward, and we gave it our all with the resources available. From Friday afternoon until today, I endeavored to extract the utmost potential from the vehicle."

"In my opinion, I'm feeling much improved this weekend, and we were nearly able to earn some points."

Tsunoda felt 'frustrated'

According to team representative Laurent Mekies, the Italian Grand Prix for Red Bull was heavily influenced by Nico Hulkenberg. An incident involving the Haas driver 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 after colliding with Nico," Tsunoda remarked.

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

“Regrettably, we had to take the car out of the race because it sustained damage to the floor.”

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

“We'll be heading to Baku and Singapore next. Our car is expected to perform well at those locations, so we are optimistic about having successful weekends coming up.”

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

"Today’s race seemed to be under Hulkenberg’s control. Daniel received a five-second penalty for pushing him off the track. After that, Nico collided with Yuki, which forced us to retire the car,” he stated.

"The most disappointing part about Yuki's retirement is that we missed out on 40 laps, which would have helped us learn more about the new updates we implemented here."

“Daniel was given an additional 10-second penalty due to an error in carrying out the initial penalty.

"We must reassess our processes in this situation and take lessons from the error made today. Such incidents occur, but overall, our pit crew's performance has been outstanding this season."

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