Ricciardo Apologizes for Hulkenberg Clash Amid Tumultuous Italian GP for RB Team

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

Daniel Ricciardo responds to the incident involving Haas at the F1 Italian Grand Prix

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

During the first lap of Sunday's race at Monza, Red Bull driver Ricciardo and Hulkenberg collided while fighting for position in the middle of the pack at Turn 8.

Ricciardo mentioned that he believed he had enough room, but then experienced a collision – which resulted in Hulkenberg's Haas being pushed onto the dirt and losing a position to his teammate, Kevin Magnussen.

The Australian driver received a five-second penalty for the incident. However, he later had to serve a ten-second penalty because one of his mechanics touched his car during his pit stop while he was serving the initial penalty.

Ricciardo concluded a challenging race on home turf for the Red Bull team by finishing in 13th place.

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

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

After the race, I had a conversation with him. I initially believed there was enough space, but I felt the impact, indicating I hadn't left sufficient room. I then offered my apologies.

"It's challenging because you compete intensely, but even the slightest differences matter."

"The car performed satisfactorily afterward, and we gave it our all with the resources available. From Friday afternoon until today, I was striving to extract the utmost potential from the vehicle."

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

Tsunoda 'frustrated' after race

Laurent Mekies from RB remarked that the Italian GP was largely influenced by Hulkenberg. A clash between Haas driver Nico 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 shortly after it began because of a collision with Nico," Tsunoda expressed.

"I attempted to give him plenty of room, but it looks like he froze up, lost control, and ended up colliding with me."

"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 handle it."

"We have upcoming races in Baku and Singapore, where our car is expected to perform strongly. We're optimistic about having successful weekends at both events."

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

"In today's race, it can be said that Hulkenberg set the pace. Daniel received a five-second penalty for pushing him off the track, and later, Nico collided with Yuki, which resulted in our decision to retire the car," he stated.

"The most disappointing part of Yuki’s retirement is that we missed out on 40 laps that could have enhanced our knowledge of the new updates we brought to this event."

"Daniel was given an additional 10-second penalty as the initial one wasn’t properly carried out."

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

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