Nico Hulkenberg along with Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda reflect on their F1 Italian GP shenanigans in early part of the race.
The two teams who are at loggerheads for sixth place in the constructors’ championship, were at it in F1 Italian GP. Already on Lap 1, there was a minor off for Haas’ Hulkenberg when Visa Cash App RB’s Ricciardo cut across in front of him at Turn 8.
Hulkenberg had to take evasive action on the grass which dropped him in the order. Within couple of laps, he had a collision with the other Visa Cash App RB of Tsunoda at Turn 1. The German came at him from behind and braked hard going for the inside line.
But Tusnoda also turned in and there was a collision. The Japanese driver retired then after as Hulkenberg was forced to pit for a front wing change. He was handed a 10s time penalty after the stewards found the German to be wholly responsible for the clash.
The German reckoned the first lap incident more or less decided his fate and the collision with Tsunoda only added to the misery. He thought the Japanese driver could have given him more room, but he ruled out racing with more intensity against them specially.
Tsunoda felt he deserved the penalty as he came from far behind to try and make a move. He even deserved the penalty points to go with the time penalty. Ricciardo, meanwhile, was quite taken aback by the Lap 1 incident where he even talked with Hulkenberg about it.
He apologised and clarified with Hulkenberg if he cut across wildly or if it was within limits. He also recalled the drivers’ briefing note about the track edges like in Monza and different kerbs which has made the situation a bit more tricky when fighting.
Clash, talk with Hulkenberg –
Ricciardo: “I wanted to just quickly check in and see from his perspective. I felt the hit, but I don’t know; was he half the car in the grass or did he just drop the outside tyre and that locked him up on braking. Obviously I didn’t give him enough room, period, so the least I can do is apologise. I was also curious, how bad was it? I knew I was in the wrong, but was it something that he wanted to punch my face in, or was it something that he was just like ‘Yeah, you misjudged it by 10 centimetres’. Obviously, from that point of view if you look at it but if leave Nico a bit more room, then we don’t get the penalty, we don’t get ourselves in that position. Of course, I have to accept part of that but as I said, I feel bad about the outcome but I don’t feel bad about the approach.
“I am curious to see the other side, it sounds like an excuse and it can come across as an excuse but we know we couldn’t change, it is what it is, I know I should have left him more room. It was okay [with Nico], firstly I apologised and then obviously he said, ‘Yeah, you didn’t give me enough room’. I also wanted to ask, like, did I kind of jerk [across] or did I just progressively move across? Obviously, I like to be aggressive, but I’m not dirty, so I wanted to make sure, from his point of view; was it just aggressive, or was I being a bit of a prick? But I believe it was just the elbows were a little too wide, so I apologised.”
Hulkenberg: “I just feel like we lost everything already on Lap 1. First chicane I just was somehow boxed in but in the wrong spot and then lost out. Then got a real strong tow off Danny, so went next to him on the outside but he swept across quite a lot and just didn’t leave quit enough room. We made contact, put me in the dirt. Anti-stall kicked in in fourth gear, so until I had that sorted out, I lost another three or four positions. I must have been P16/17 after Lap 1. Obviously pretty poor and bad, so yeah, it was always going to be difficult, and then obviously the Yuki incident and front wing change and all the rest of it is the rest.”
Race –
Ricciardo: “In a way it was frustrating because I struggled in first lap, Big picture, I don’t think I’d really gained many positions at all on Lap 1 [this season], so up until that point it was okay. I was being a bit more aggressive, which I think I liked, but then maybe I was having too much fun being aggressive, and I got too aggressive. Anyway I joke about it, but obviously I need to judge those things better. Not ignoring it but beyond that big picture, we weren’t quite quick enough, Magnussen was quicker, Albon was quicker. Without that stuff, we still wouldn’t have got points.”
Track edges –
Ricciardo: “In drivers’ briefing, we talked about some of these track edges, why there’s not a kerb or something, because even getting on the white line, you flick up dust, and it is tricky. Anyway I know what the conditions are, yeah, there was a kerb there last year, maybe last year we would have got through but have to be minful of these edges and that’s not just my incident, in quali and everything, we come across so much stuff on track, so hopefully next year they can just put maybe a little bit of concrete or a kerb there to not just protect incidents like I had but also for clean laps.”
Tsunoda incident –
Hulkenberg: “He was probably on the radio, knowing him. But of course, I didn’t stop it how I wanted to, but I think he saw me coming as well with quite some speed and still he decided to turn in. I think he could have saved himself, but he chose not to.”
Tsunoda: “Not seen a proper onboard, what I know is a white car trying to overtake from the inside from pretty far away and there was massive white smoke and just losing control and smashing into me. I tried to give space as much as possible but yeah in the end, he just came straight, so nothing I could have done. If he scores points, it’s not enough. And if he doesn’t score points, it’s still not enough. But I hope he gets penalty points on top of it. I hope so. He already has automatic 10 seconds, so I don’t know. I mean, we are fighting the Haas, I don’t know, my head is not there in the right place I guess, I am pretty frustrated.”
Race against VCARB different –
Hulkenberg: “No, it is normal racing. It was just we were 5-6 cars there all bunched up and obviously I lost out a lot just to make ground up again and made contact there but nothing to do with the championship.”
Here’s the race start: https://www.formula1.com/en/video/2024-italian-grand-prix-norris-loses-lead-to-oscar-piastri.1808999388731599728
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Here’s how F1 Italian GP panned out
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