Ricciardo Apologizes for Hulkenberg Clash and Faces Double Penalty at F1 Italian GP

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

Daniel Ricciardo addresses the incident involving Haas during the F1 Italian Grand Prix

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

Red Bull driver Ricciardo clashed with Hulkenberg in the middle of the field during the first lap of Sunday's race at Monza, with the incident occurring 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 received a five-second penalty for the incident. However, he was later handed a 10-second penalty because one of his mechanics touched the car during the initial penalty at the pit stop.

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

"In the end, we didn't have enough speed today, even disregarding 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 talked to him and explained that I believed there was enough space. However, I felt the collision, realized I hadn't left enough room, and apologized for it."

"Competing intensely is challenging because even the tiniest differences can be decisive."

"The car performed satisfactorily after the adjustments, and we gave it our all with the resources available. Since Friday afternoon, I’ve been striving to extract the utmost performance from the vehicle up until now."

"From my perspective, I'm feeling much improved this weekend, and we nearly managed to earn some points."

Tsunoda 'Disheartened'

Laurent Mekies from RB stated that their performance at the Italian GP was largely influenced by Nico Hulkenberg. A collision involving the Haas driver and Yuki Tsunoda led to the Japanese driver's early exit from the race.

"I feel quite frustrated; it's disappointing that my race ended just a few laps in because of a collision with Nico," Tsunoda expressed.

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

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

“I noticed it immediately and attempted to keep going, but the vehicle was slipping and I just couldn't control it.

"We're heading to Baku and Singapore next. Our car is expected to perform well at those tracks, so we're optimistic about having some successful weekends coming up."

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 can be stated that Hulkenberg set the pace. Daniel received a five-second penalty for pushing him off the track. Subsequently, Nico collided with Yuki, which ultimately caused us to retire the car," he explained.

"The most disappointing part about Yuki's retirement is that we missed out on 40 laps that could have enhanced our grasp of the new updates we implemented here."

"Daniel was given an additional 10-second penalty because the initial one wasn’t applied properly."

"We must reassess our methods in light of this situation and take lessons from today's error. Although such incidents occur, our pit crew's performance has mostly been outstanding this season."

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