Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo has accepted blame for the silly F1 Azerbaijan GP mistake where he went off and reversed into Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat.
In an already tough weekend for Renault, it ended up being much worse with none of the drivers in the points in Azerbaijan GP but in further pain, Ricciardo was handed a three-place grid penalty for the upcoming Spanish GP in two weeks time.
The Australian started the grand prix well to be inside the Top 10 at one point and looked likely to score with a much better pace. He was battling with Kvyat when he attempted a move at Turn 3, but the overtake didn’t pay off as he locked-up and went into the run-off.
In ‘urgency & panic’ to get out of the situation, Ricciardo did not see that Kvyat, who was on the outside and didn’t make the corner as well, as the Australian quickly reversed and rammed into the Russian at albeit a slow speed but enough to damage the bargeboard.
Both pitted straightaway and retired with too much damage to carry on. Post-race, Ricciardo admitted to his silly mistake as Kvyat accepted the apology and moved on from the incident. “I don’t feel good about what just happened and it was weird.
“At that time [of the race], it was starting to look good for us as we were just starting to pick up pace and we were closing in on Daniil. I saw a gap and I thought I’ll give it a go – it is always tight into Turn 3 but initially I thought I had the commitment and I’ll pull it off.
“But then I felt I was starting to lock up and miss the corner. As soon as I went down the escape road, it was just sense of urgency and bit of panic – just trying to minimise damage and loose as less time as possible.
“I found reverse and started going and to be honest I had no idea he was there. I think the urgency stopped me from looking, I thought he would have stayed on track and moved on. I was trying to minimise the mistake but it just turned into another mistake.
“It was kind of crappy on my part and I certainly felt bad for the team and for Daniil, obviously, it was not cool,” he summed up. The Renault did not look likely to have pace in the car all weekend but the Australian said he was feeling better for once.
Kvyat took the incident sportingly and even joked to buy a rear-view mirror for Ricciardo for the next race. “It wasn’t the best of days as we had to retire the car through no fault of our own, but these things happen in racing.
“I have no issue with Daniel, he recognised his mistake and we now turn the page. Of course, I was a bit disappointed in the moment as I thought we could have scored a point, but there’s not much you can do about it.
“Our car was great in qualifying, but we struggled with some tyre management in the grand prix, so we’ll investigate to understand why and just move on to the next race. We have a strong package and I’m sure our time will come.”
Here’s how the Azerbaijan GP panned out
