An irate Daniel Ricciardo lashed Lance Stroll for centre-punching the rear of his RB under safety car conditions in the Chinese Grand Prix, resulting in his eventual retirement.
The race was coming to the green flag on lap 27 when Fernando Alonso locked up, causing an accordion effect into the penultimate turn.
Ricciardo was an innocent victim in the melee as the field bunched up, copping a whack from Stroll who locked up under brakes.
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Stroll initially lay blame on the cars in front of him for suddenly slowing down, but the FIA stewards took a different view and handed him a 10-second penalty and two penalty points.
Speaking post-race, the Australian vented his frustrations at the Canadian’s apparent inattentiveness having seen replays of the crash showing Stroll looking at the apex of the corner and not the car in front.
“Maybe in an hour, when he sees it, he might take some accountability. But if he doesn’t, I can’t help him, nor can anyone here,” Ricciardo said immediately after the race.
“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. Let’s see what he says in the media, but if he comes after me, then I’ll say more.”
With a brand new chassis, Ricciardo was in position to score his first points of the year.
Driving inside the top 10, he was forced to retire shortly after the restart due to damage from the crash.
Ricciardo’s frustrations boiled over when it became apparent that Stroll had not taken responsibility for the incident.
“I’d slowly started to calm down, and then I was told what Lance thinks of the incident,” said Ricciardo.
“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’s gonna 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— that guy. And I’m being nice, too! But if that’s what he thinks…”
Stroll did clarify that his “idiot” comment on the radio was not directed at Ricciardo.
Ironically, it was his Aston Martin teammate who started the chaos.
“Everyone just slammed on the brakes and he was the guy in front of me. So I don’t think he (Ricciardo) slammed on the brakes, It was a concertina effect,” said Stroll.
“I got a penalty because of the end result that I hit Ricciardo, but it’s not like everything was normal and I just slammed into the back of him.
“There was a really odd concertina effect that I would have liked to see the stewards take into consideration maybe a little bit more.”