‘Was I being a prick?’: Ricciardo’s classy act after F1 incident as pit stop blunder costs Australian

Daniel Ricciardo came up short in a bid for points at the Italian Grand Prix, with the Australian receiving two penalties in a frustrating race on Sunday evening.

Although RB’s team principal Laurent Mekies said the team “cannot hide from the fact” that even without Ricciardo’s penalties, it would have been “difficult” for him to finish in the points.

It is a point that Ricciardo also made when speaking to media after the race, telling F1.com “ultimately we weren’t quick enough, even without the penalties”.

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“For sure, we tried,” he said.

“But I don’t think we were quick enough… Kevin passed me on the medium and then drove away on the hards and I think he had a penalty as well. We weren’t quite fast enough.”

Ricciardo was initially penalised for making contact with Nico Hulkenberg on the first lap, copping a five-second penalty in the process which he planned to serve in his opening pit spot.

But the Australian then was dealt an additional 10-second penalty after a mechanic touched the front wing, immediately standing back after realising the error of their ways.

A classy Ricciardo said after Sunday’s race that he spoke to Hulkenberg after the opening lap crash, wanting to apologise and make sure his opponent knew he wasn’t trying to drive dirty.

“The start, I was enjoying it… but then obviously Turn 8 I tried to have a word to Niko because you don’t see it,” Ricciardo said.

“Obviously I’m aware we’re fighting and there’s a car alongside me but you don’t really know, like I thought we were good and then I felt the contact so obviously I immediately assumed I didn’t give him enough room so I just wanted to know how bad it was.

“Like, was he half a car in the dirt or did he just grab a tyre? Obviously it’s tough because you race hard but little things can make a difference.

“So, sorry for him and then we had the penalty, 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. My intentions were good. I had to get the elbows out but probably a little too much.”

Ricciardo was also later quoted telling media including Speedcafe: “I also wanted to ask (Hulkenberg), like, did I kind of jerk (across) or did I just progressively move across?

“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?”

Ricciardo added that when he jumped out of his car after the race he had a “quick look” and didn’t spot any significant damage from the incident.

While obviously disappointed to not finish in the points, Ricciardo said he wasn’t feeling any pressure despite his future on the grid being under a cloud beyond this season.

“At the end of the day the result is just something on paper so to speak but everyone knows in this sport you can only do what you can with the equipment you’ve got,” he said.

“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 and I don’t feel like I did that the whole weekend in Zandvoort… I feel a lot better this weekend and I think the team sees that.

“We didn’t get points unfortunately but for now that’s all I will do and I’ll keep trying, keep the elbows out but maybe tuck them in half an inch.”