Ricciardo Apologizes to Hulkenberg After Costly Italian GP Clash: ‘I Thought We Had Space’

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

Daniel Ricciardo responds to collision with Haas during the Italian Grand Prix in F1

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

Red Bull driver Ricciardo was in a tussle with Hulkenberg in the middle of the pack during the first lap of the Monza race on Sunday when they collided at Turn 8.

Ricciardo mentioned that he believed he had enough room, but then experienced a collision – causing Hulkenberg's Haas to be pushed onto the dirt, allowing Kevin Magnussen to overtake.

The Australian driver received a five-second penalty for the incident, but subsequently had to endure a 10-second penalty because one of his mechanics made contact with his car during the initial penalty at the pit stop.

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

“Today, we simply didn’t have the speed, penalties aside,” he commented.

“We gave it our best shot, and I was really having fun battling side-by-side at the beginning, but I ended up colliding with Nico at Turn 8.

"After the race, I talked to him and mentioned that I believed we had enough space. However, I felt the collision, realized I hadn't given him sufficient room, and apologized for it."

"It's challenging because you push yourself, but even the tiniest differences can have a big impact."

"The vehicle performed adequately afterward, and we exerted maximum effort with the resources available to us. I aimed to extract the best performance from the car starting from Friday afternoon until now."

"I personally feel much better this weekend, and we were nearly able to score points."

Tsunoda 'frustrated' after incident

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

“I’m really upset. It’s unfortunate 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 looks like he froze up, leading to him losing control and colliding with me."

Regrettably, we had to pull the car out of the race due to damage sustained to the floor.

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

"We're heading to Baku and Singapore next, where our car is expected to perform strongly, so we are optimistic about having successful weekends there."

Mekies is frustrated with 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, Hulkenberg seemed to dominate the events. Daniel received a five-second penalty for pushing him off the track. Following that, Nico collided with Yuki, which ultimately led to us having to retire the car," he explained.

"The most disappointing part of Yuki's retirement is that we missed out on 40 laps which would have helped us better understand the new updates we implemented at this event."

“Daniel was given an additional 10-second penalty because the initial one was not properly carried out.

"We must reassess our protocols in light of this incident and take lessons from today's error. Such occurrences are inevitable, but our pit crew has largely delivered outstanding performance this season."

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