‘F*ck that guy’ – Irate Daniel Ricciardo tears into Lance Stroll over Chinese GP shunt

Lance Stroll would be wise to keep a low profile with Daniel Ricciardo, who was furious following an incident which eliminated the RB driver from the Chinese Grand Prix.

A Safety Car restart was necessary after Valtteri Bottas’ Sauber lost power from its Ferrari engine, though that was not a smooth process, with Stroll ploughing back into the back of Ricciardo.

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Before leader Max Verstappen could even execute his race restart, the concertina effect further back saw Stroll steam into Ricciardo, lifting the rear of his RB off the ground and causing damage to the diffuser extensive enough to force his retirement later.

Stroll received a 10-second penalty and two penalty points for his Super Licence for causing that collision, though his “idiot” verdict on Ricciardo, was very much eclipsed by what Ricciardo called the Aston Martin driver in return.

“I’d slowly started to calm down, and then I was told what Lance thinks of the incident,” Ricciardo told media in Shanghai. “Apparently, I’m an idiot, and it was my fault. That made my blood boil, because it’s clear as day and it’s also behind a Safety Car.

“The only thing you’ve got to do is watch the car in front. We can’t predict what the leader is going to do. The race doesn’t start until the control line.

“I’m doing my best not to say what I want to say, but f*ck that guy. And I’m being nice, too! But if that’s what he thinks…”

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Ricciardo added that he does not believe Stroll was “even watching me” at the restart, claiming that if Stroll does not take accountability when he re-watches the incident, then the 25-year-old is beyond help.

“Maybe in an hour, when he sees it, he might take some accountability,” Ricciardo hopes. “But if he doesn’t, I can’t help him, nor can anyone here.

“It’s so frustrating. Obviously, racing incidents happen, but behind a Safety Car, that should never happen.

“What made my blood boil is I watched his onboard, to just see it from his perspective. And as soon as we start braking, you can see his helmet turn right and he’s looking at the apex of Turn 14, he’s not even watching me. And then when he looks back, he’s in the back of me.

“I don’t know what he’s doing, where his head is, but all he has to do is worry about me in that situation, and he clearly wasn’t.”

Ricciardo’s retirement due to the incident means he is still chasing his first point of the F1 2024 campaign.

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