Daniel Ricciardo’s Japanese Grand Prix was over barely a few seconds after it begun in a horror start to Sunday’s race for the Australian, who crashed out on Lap 1.
Ricciardo, who had no real practice time on Friday, showed promising signs of improvement in qualifying to start 11th on the grid just behind teammate Yuki Tsunoda.
But unfortunately for Ricciardo it was a short-lived silver lining as the Australian and Alex Albon crashed out at Turn Three after a racing incident.
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The Sky Sports expert commentary team were all in agreement that it was an unfortunate accident, likely prompted by Ricciardo being more occupied by cars to his left — specifically Lance Stroll — and not realising Albon was coming up on his right.
“I think Ricciardo reacts to Stroll on his lefthand side. That’s unfortunate. It wasn’t Albon’s fault and it wasn’t Ricciardo’s,” Anthony Davidson said in commentary for Sky Sports F1.
“Ricciardo is going for the racing line and three into one doesn’t really go. It’s a racing incident and wrong place, wrong time for Albon.”
“Ricciardo was looking to his left and more concerned about a car coming up to his left, so that’s why he wasn’t aware of Albon,” added Bernie Collins.
Both drivers were thankfully quick to emerge from their cars unscathed, although there was a lengthy delay to Sunday’s race as crews worked to clear the cars.
When the races does restart it will do so using the times from sector one of the race according to the broadcast, with Nico Hulkenberg (12th to 10th) and Esteban Ocon (15th to 13th) able to make ground before the red flag came out.
The top nine stayed the same, with Max Verstappen making a strong start as he looks to rebound from his DNF at the Melbourne Grand Prix.
Fernando Alonso was the only driver in the top five to have started the race on the softs, with the other four ahead of him starting on medium tyres.
Logan Sargeant crashes out in Japan | 00:50
FULL RACE PREVIEW:
Max Verstappen might sit on pole position for the Japanese Grand Prix this afternoon (3pm AEST), but the Red Bull star says there’s a “question mark” over his team’s race pace.
With teammate Sergio Perez locking out the front row, Red Bull are in ideal position to capitalise in Suzuka. But things aren’t all as they seem, with Ferrari and McLaren both appearing to show strong race pace in practice.
It could lead to a dramatic Sunday of action – with rain also possible, though the forecast has been improving on that front.
“So far I haven’t been happy with my long runs,” said Verstappen after qualifying.
“The pace wasn’t what I would have liked. So there’s a bit of a question mark going into [the race] because looking at the long runs especially Ferrari, they looked very comfortable.
“Maybe they were not so quick over one lap but they looked fast in the long runs so we’ll have to wait and see how that will evolve in the race.
“[McLaren are] also quite decent. I’m just not very happy with myself and how my long run was so naturally, everyone else looks a little bit better.”
With Australia’s Oscar Piastri in sixth, that promising race pace could lead to a strong points haul.
STARTING GRID: Top 10
1. Max Verstappen, Red Bull
2. Sergio Perez, Red Bull
3. Lando Norris, McLaren
4. Carlos Sainz, Ferrari
5. Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin
6. Oscar Piastri, McLaren
7. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
8. Charles Leclerc, Ferrari
9. George Russell, Mercedes
10. Yuki Tsunoda, RB
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