Daniel Ricciardo was confused about the penalty as he felt F1 Canadian GP going away before he managed to score, as Yuki Tsunoda was disappointed with his mistake.
Already the start didn’t go the way of Visa Cash App RB’s Ricciardo in F1 Canadian GP as he lost positions to few cars. He hung on in the points but that looked like a goner when he was handed a 5s time penalty for a false start by the stewards.
The note stated that he moved after the fourth red light which was minimal but enough to get a penalty albeit the smallest of the penalties. Having served the penalty, Ricciardo found himself in the midfield with his teammate Tsunoda getting ahead.
But once in the dry conditions, the Australian started to claw back in the fight against Tsunoda, Alpine pair of Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly along with the Haas pair of Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen in the pack – all of them fighting for eighth.
It was Tsunoda leading until his grass moment which was followed by a spin at Turn 9. It left Ocon ahead in the pack but his derating issue allowed Ricciardo to pounce on him and secure eighth to score four points and finish the weekend on a high note.
“I felt like the race was getting away from us,” said Ricciardo to media. “For the start itself we were drift city, so lost a couple of positions there. Around Turn 2, I remember Lewis just literally breezing by me and I was Tokyo-ing it. I lost a bit there and then I got told we had a penalty.
“I was quite confused because I knew I didn’t jump the lights, but I recall maybe the car was creeping when I was looking at the lights, so I guess we probably had a a clutch issue, that would be my guess. I had that and then I think when the rain was coming, we pitted for a new inter and the others stayed out and we just lost track position there.
“I felt like the race was getting away from us, but then with the slick at the end we managed to claw our way back past some cars and fortunately get a nice little bag of points. So all in all happy. It’s hard to be perfect in these races, I made mistakes obviously. We were just trying to survive at times, so happy we got there in the end.
“It’s the first weekend I’ve got well, start to finish. Obviously Miami, half of it was really good and the other half not so, so it’s nice to just be competitive from Friday through Sunday. And a race like this, it’s so hard, mentally and everything. It is draining. You can’t expect to do a perfect race when it’s like this, but I felt like in all these conditions, we managed to still pull out a result – with a few challenges along the way, I am happy and just got to keep it rolling.
“I think that little energy, probably a little bit of a chip on my shoulder I brought into the weekend, I’ve got to make sure that stays there and just keep that level of intensity. I don’t know if I need to be a bit angry or just get my testosterone up, but I think it helps me,” summed up Ricciardo, recalling the whole weekend where he had the verbal back and forth with Jacques Villenueve.
The Australian’s gain was a loss for Tsunoda, who did all the hard work but was undone due to a silly mistake towards the end of the grand prix. He had praise for his team who made the right strategy call, even the one where he had to drive on used intermediate for a large part of the race and defend his position.
“Yeah, it was my mistake,” admitted Tsunoda. “I had to lock up and that’s it. I was struggling a lot with the brake quite early stages. But yeah my mistake. The strategy went well. It was not easy, but until then I was pretty okay. I was feeling okay with that, with the intermediate tyres. And I think also the call we made but to change it to dry tyres was also pretty good so yeah.
“But in the end, I was pretty disappointed how I ended up, obviously, it’s not the way I should finish. It was the race that just brought the car back home, I was pretty disappointed how I ended up, obviously, it’s not the way I should finish. So yeah pretty shame,” summed up Tsunoda, who secured a deal with Visa Cash App RB to race for them in 2025.
Here’s Nico Hulkenberg saving himself from Yuki Tsunoda: https://www.formula1.com/en/video/2024-canadian-grand-prix-hulkenberg-swerves-to-avoid-tsunoda-spin.1801429276582472507
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Here’s how F1 Canadian GP panned out
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