Montoya claims moment of ‘stupidity’ which ended Daniel Ricciardo’s career

Juan Pablo Montoya has pinpointed the exact “moment of stupidity” that ended Daniel Ricciardo’s Formula 1 career.

That race? The 2023 Dutch Grand Prix, where Ricciardo’s surprising crash in practice resulted in an injured wrist that allowed his ultimate replacement, Liam Lawson, to get behind the wheel.

Daniel Ricciardo’s career-ending “moment of stupidity”

After being passed over for a seat at McLaren, Daniel Ricciardo looked set to spend the F1 2023 season on the sidelines — until his former Red Bull program extended an olive branch.

That year, junior team AlphaTauri had taken a chance on rookie Nyck de Vries, trusting that his championships in Formula 2 and Formula E could translate into a successful Formula 1 career. Unfortunately, as the season progressed, de Vries failed to score a single point after the first 10 races of the year.

AlphaTauri made headlines when it brought in former driver Daniel Ricciardo, clearly illustrating that the team was looking for experience.

After two points-less races in Hungary and Belgium, though, Ricciardo was sidelined once again. While attempting to avoid a spinning Oscar Piastri in practice for the Dutch Grand Prix, Ricciardo hit the wall and injured his wrist, which put him out of the event at Zandvoort and the following four events.

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Speaking on the MontoyAS Podcast, former Formula 1 driver Juan Pablo Montoya pinpointed that fateful 2023 Dutch Grand Prix crash as the beginning of Ricciardo’s downhill slide.

“It was precisely for that reason that Lawson started,” the Colombian explained.

“Think about it: A moment of stupidity of that magnitude defined Ricciardo’s career and opened the door to Lawson.

“If Ricciardo didn’t break his hand, Lawson wouldn’t have jumped on the bandwagon.

“It went very well for him, that’s why they gave him the seat.”

Lawson secured AlphaTauri’s first points of the season for the second car during the Italian Grand Prix at Monza. A seventh-place for Ricciardo in Mexico, though, gave the Australian the ultimate leg up in the championship standings.

Still, when the season came to a close, many hoped that the team would sign Lawson on a full-time basis for 2024. That didn’t happen; Ricciardo lasted through the Singapore Grand Prix before the Kiwi driver stepped in to replace him.

But would it be fair to characterize Ricciardo’s Dutch crash as “a moment of stupidity?”

Having seen Piastri spinning, Ricciardo opted to drive into the tyre barrier rather than crash directly into the out-of-control car. In many similar incidents, drivers will remove their hands from the wheel to prevent injuring their wrist as the wheel snaps, but Ricciardo may not have had time.

“If you’re coming into that corner, it’s blind, so maybe he saw me too late and turned to the wall instead of into me,” Piastri reflected to media at the time. “So if he did, thank you.”

Ricciardo underwent surgery in Spain shortly after the crash, where several screws and a plate were fitted to his hand, designed to repair a metacarpal bone broken in several places.

The time away from the track after returning to the F1 space almost certainly worked against Ricciardo when it came to making a full-time return — but it does seem unfair to brand the crash as a “moment of stupidity.”

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