Penalised Ricciardo says “my intentions were good” after P13 finish

Penalties destroyed Daniel Ricciardo’s slim chance of a points-finish at the Italian Grand Prix, with the Australian’s opening lap “banging and wheel-to-wheel” fun and the team’s failure to serve his penalty correctly resulting in a P13 finish.

After crossing the finish line in P12 before taking his additional 10-second hit and moving into P13, Ricciardo said RB just “weren’t quick enough today, even without the penalties”.

“For sure, we tried, but I don’t think we were quick enough,” Ricciardo said.

“You know, Kevin [Magnussen] passed me on the medium [tyre] then drove away on the hards so… and I think, yeah, the penalty as well I heard at the end, so yeah.

“We just weren’t quite fast enough.”

A relatively positive qualifying result on Saturday meant Ricciardo started his Monza campaign just shy of the top ten in P12, with Fernando Alonso and Nico Hulkenberg the first drivers standing in his way.

As the five lights went out, Alonso cleared the Haas driver within the opening half of the lap, leaving him to be Ricciardo’s closest competitor as the field charged from the second Lesmo to Ascari.

It was on that run that the Australian stuck his elbows out, squeezing Hulkenberg off the tarmac and onto the grass patch at Turn 8, causing Hulkenberg to lose two positions. 

What Ricciardo hoped was going to be deemed a racing incident instead resulted in the Australian being hit with a five-second penalty, the first domino to fall for RB.

“We tried, and I was enjoying the wheel-to-wheel racing at the start, but I made contact with Nico in turn eight,” Ricciardo said.

“I spoke to him after the race, I thought we had space, but felt the contact so didn’t give him enough room, and I apologised. 

“It’s tough as you race hard but the smallest margins make a difference.” 

Hulkenberg went on to cost Ricciardo’s teammate his entire race, charging in and locking up at the first turn as he attempted to pass Yuki Tsunoda.

The contact, although damaging to the Haas and its tyres, was fatal for the #22 VCARB 01 and prompted the RB pit wall to retire the car due to floor damage.

With their sole focus on Ricciardo, a slip-up during the pitstop in which the #3 served his five-second time penalty came as a shock.

Pulling into his pit box, the mechanics were required to keep their hands off the car while Ricciardo sat stationary for five seconds, however, routine consumed the crew on the front wing as he reached out and stabilised the front wing ahead of time.

As a result, Ricciardo was handed a 10-second penalty for failing to correctly serve the original penalty. 

Dust flies as Daniel Ricciardo and Nico Hulkenberg battle during the Italian GP. Image: Simon Galloway / LAT Images.

“We had the [10-second] penalty,” Ricciardo said.

“So, sorry… I say sorry for everyone but actually, my first laps have been pretty – I want to say a bad word – not great this year, so my intentions were good.”

The contact with Hulkenberg didn’t cause any damage to Ricciardo VCARB 01, with the stint following the 8.4-second pitstop allowing Ricciardo to make up some ground with a few overtakes.

“I had a quick look when I got out of the car now to check the right rear, it looked ok,” Ricciardo said.

“I don’t suspect anything and the team didn’t report anything during the race.”

Despite the sombre post-race attitude, Ricciardo managed to have some fun out on track as he made his way through the mid-field with Pierre Gasly the Australian’s first target.

Tussling with Gasly for the lap prior, Ricciardo had a look at a move down the inside of the first chicane, withholding the overtake until the #10 was forced into an error at Turn 4.

Gaining an advantage on the run-off area, Gasly handed P14 to Ricciardo and was unable to catch him as he sped off down the road.

Valtteri Bottas, waiting just a few corners ahead, soon spotted the VCARB 01 in his mirrors as Ricciardo looked to steal P13 from the higher-than-usual Sauber car. 

Not needing to out-brake Bottas in order to get the overtake done, Ricciardo charged alongside and past the #77 as they flew down the main straight, slotting into thirteenth as the race passed half distance.

From there onwards, however, it was a stagnant race for the RB driver with his only positional change coming after the chequered flag as his penalty promoted rookie Franco Colapinto into a very welcomed P12 finish on debut.

“At the end of the day, the result is just something on paper, so to speak,” Ricciardo said.

“Everyone knows, in this sport, you can only do what you can with the equipment you’ve got and I think this was definitely a weekend where I felt like I was at least trying to wring the car’s neck from Friday through to Sunday afternoon.

“I felt like I didn’t do that the whole weekend in Zandvoort, you know, there was obviously Saturday, I was disappointed with my lap and my performance so personally I feel a lot better this weekend and I think the team sees that.

“Obviously, it doesn’t mean we got points, unfortunately, but for now, that’s all I can do and I’ll keep trying and keep the elbows out but maybe just tuck ‘em in half an inch.”

Daniel Ricciardo battles with Pierre Gasly, Alpine, during the Italian GP. Image: Zak Mauger / LAT Images.

Laurent Mekies, Former Ferrari Sporting Director and current RB Team Principal, acknowledged the brilliance of the Italian Grand Prix weekend before delving into his team’s struggles.

“First of all, what a brilliant advert this weekend has been for Formula 1, with a packed crowd at an updated Monza circuit treated to what most of them wanted, a home team win. Our congratulations go to Ferrari and Charles Leclerc for a great drive,” he said.

“As for today’s race, one could say it was dictated by Hulkenberg, with Daniel given a 5-second penalty, having forced him off the track, before Nico then drove into Yuki, leading to us retiring the car. 

“The most frustrating aspect of Yuki’s retirement is that we lost 40 laps that would have increased our understanding of the updates we introduced here. 

“Daniel then received a further 10-second penalty because we didn’t execute the first one correctly. 

“We will need to review our procedures in this scenario and learn from today’s mistake.

“These things happen, but our pit crew work has generally been exceptional this season. 

“We now stay in Monza for a Pirelli tyre test on Wednesday and then will have a few days to see what lessons we can learn from this weekend, especially in terms of the update package. 

“In fact, it was meant to come at the next round in Azerbaijan, but a big push at the factory allowed us to bring one set of parts here in Monza, which we chose to run with Yuki. 

“We cannot hide the fact that, even without his penalties, it would have been difficult for Daniel to finish in the points. 

“We crucially need a performance step to return to the front of the midfield, and our focus is on the analysis of the data collected here before going to Baku.”

After missed opportunities during the final Grand Prix of the European portion of the calendar, eight fly-away races now lie ahead of RB, with the Azerbaijan Grand Prix across September 13-15.

Image: Rudy Carezzevoli/Getty Images // Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool

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