Ricciardo Apologizes to Hulkenberg After Italian GP Clash; RB Team Faces Tough Race Weekend

Daniel Ricciardo comments on collision with Nico Hulkenberg: "I believed there was room; I've said sorry."

Daniel Ricciardo addresses the encounter with Haas during the Formula 1 Italian Grand Prix

Daniel Ricciardo has expressed that he offered an apology to Nico Hulkenberg for their collision in the first lap of the Formula 1 Italian Grand Prix.

During the initial lap of Sunday's race at Monza, RB racer Ricciardo was competing closely with Hulkenberg in the middle group when the two collided at Turn 8.

Ricciardo believed there was enough room, yet experienced a collision – resulting in Hulkenberg's Haas being pushed off the track, leading him to lose a position to his teammate Kevin Magnussen.

The Australian received a penalty of five seconds due to the incident, but subsequently faced a 10-second penalty after a team member made contact with his car during his pitstop while he was fulfilling the initial penalty.

Ricciardo concluded a challenging home race for the RB team, finishing in 13th place.

"In the end, we didn't move fast enough today, penalties aside," he stated.

"We gave it our best shot, and I really loved the head-to-head competition in the beginning, but there was a collision with Nico at Turn 8."

"After the race, I had a conversation with him. I believed there was enough space, but once I felt the contact, I realized I hadn't provided him ample room, so I offered my apologies."

Competing fiercely, it's the minor details that can determine the outcome.

"After the incident, the car seemed to be in good condition, and we gave it our all with the resources available to us. From Friday afternoon until today, my goal was to extract every bit of performance possible from the vehicle.

"I personally feel much improved this weekend, and we were on the brink of earning points."

Tsunoda Feels Disappointed

The course of RB's Italian Grand Prix was "controlled by Hulkenberg", stated team Laurent Mekies, following an incident involving the Haas driver and Yuki Tsunoda, which prematurely terminated Tsunoda's participation in the race.

Tsunoda expressed his disappointment, lamenting that his race ended prematurely, just a few laps in, because of a collision with Nico.

"I made an effort to maintain ample distance, yet it appeared he froze up, leading to a loss of control and colliding into me."

"Regrettably, we were compelled to withdraw the vehicle due to sustaining some damage to the undercarriage."

Immediately, I sensed something was wrong and attempted to keep going, but the car was skidding and I just couldn't control it.

"Up next are Baku and Singapore, where we anticipate our car will excel, leading us to expect successful weekends."

Mekies' annoyance regarding the Tsunoda situation is due to the loss of crucial time on the track with the newly upgraded RB vehicle that was introduced at Monza.

"Regarding the race that took place today, it could be argued that Hulkenberg had a significant influence on its outcome. Daniel received a five-second penalty for pushing him off the track. Subsequently, Nico collided with Yuki, which resulted in our decision to retire the car from the race," he stated.

"The most disappointing element of Yuki's retirement is that we missed out on 40 laps that could have deepened our grasp of the new features we implemented at this event."

Daniel was subsequently handed an additional 10-second penalty due to our failure to properly carry out the initial one.

"In light of the current situation, it's essential for us to reevaluate our processes and take lessons from the error made today. While such incidents do occur, it's worth noting that the performance of our pit crew has been outstanding for the most part this year."

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