“Missed opportunity” in China as Ricciardo suffers “another blow”

Daniel Ricciardo’s race of redemption took a turn for the worst after he was rear-ended by Lance Stroll, sustaining damage that ultimately saw the RB driver retiring from the Chinese Grand Prix on Lap 34. 

Ricciardo’s Chinese Grand Prix campaign got off to an unfavourable start, with the Australian losing three positions off the line after qualifying in P12. 

From there, Ricciardo ran with his teammate trailing closely behind until Lap 9 when Yuki Tsunoda was called in for his first pitstop.

Five laps later, it was Ricciardo’s turn to stop, switching his 14-lap-old medium tyres for a fresh set of the same compound, dooming him into a second stop later on.

Ricciardo rejoined the 56-lap thriller behind his teammate, passing Tsunoda at the same corner that would ultimately see him retiring from the race.

“It’s a restart, you know, so we don’t know what the leaders going to do so you have to be as vigilant as ever and be prepared for any situation,” Ricciardo said.

“I could see it was obviously bunching up into the hairpin so everyone’s, you know, backing up.

“Obviously, how hard he’s [Lance Stroll] hit me and, you know, pretty much put half his car under mine, it wasn’t a small lack of judgment, he was miles off. 

“For that, for me, honestly, there’s no excuse.”

Daniel Ricciardo makes a pitstop during the Chinese Grand Prix. Image: Peter Fox/Getty Images // Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool.

After Valtteri Bottas’ engine failed on Lap 19, the safety was deployed, bunching the field up.

As the track went green and racing resumed, chaos ensued at the Turn 14 hairpin.

Attempting to avoid Carlos Sainz, Fernando Alonso ran in hot and locked up on entry to the tight corner. 

As a result, the drivers behind the #14 were also forced to break hard, with every driver but Lance Stroll successfully doing so.

At speed, Stroll rear-ended the Australian, leaving him with significant damage to his diffuser and floor.

Ricciardo was also catapulted into Oscar Piastri, damaging the MCL38’s diffuser as well which ruined the 23-year-old’s race. 

For the next few laps, Ricciardo assessed the extent of damage whilst out on track, however, after consecutively being passed by three cars, he was radioed to retire on Lap 34. 

“I think what’s frustrating is that I watched his onboard – he’s not even looking at me,” Ricciardo said.

“You can see his helmet, he’s looking at the apex of the corner, so… I don’t know why he’s not looking at the car in front unless his eyes are doing something funny, but, it looked like he wasn’t looking at me and I think it shows how hard he hit me.

“He was clearly focused on something else.”

Yuki Tsunoda leads Daniel Ricciardo during the Chinese Grand Prix. Image: Lars Baron/Getty Images // Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool.

Lance Stroll made his feelings clear in the cockpit, calling Ricciardo an “idiot” in the moment – a term Ricciardo had his own feelings about post-race.

“Apparently, I’m an idiot, and it was my fault,” the Australian said.

“That made my blood boil.

“The only thing you’ve got to do is watch the car in front.

“I’m doing my best not to say what I want to say, but f*** that guy… and I’m being nice, too!“

Aside from the expected heartbreak of finishing the race, through no fault of his own, on the sidelines, Ricciardo was extremely disappointed to end his first positive weekend of the season with no reward. 

“Right now, that’s where it’s even more disappointing for the team, you know, in the garage I think everyone feels like it’s kind of another blow to the start of the season.

“But I think, you know, 48 hours from now when this, kind of, disappointment starts to fade, we’ll look back on a positive weekend.”  

A few corners later, Ricciardo’s teammate was also involved in an icindent of his own.

Yuki Tsunoda fell victim to Kevin Magnussen’s hasty tactics at Turn 15, with the #20 spinning the Japanese driver around and puncturing the RB driver’s right-rear tyre.

It was an instant DNF for Tsundoa, making it a nightmare weekend for RB in China.

Just as he had this weekend, the Miami Grand Prix will also provide Ricciardo with two points-scoring opportunities as it runs as the second Sprint weekend of the season.

The Miami Grand Prix runs from May 3-5 at the Miami International Autodrome, however, it will be three very early mornings for Australian fans with FP1 taking place at 2:30 AM, AEST, on May 4.

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