Daniel Ricciardo asked Nico Hulkenberg if he’d been “a bit of a prick” in causing their opening lap collision at the Italian Grand Prix.
The Haas driver was on the Aussie’s outside approaching the braking zone for the Ascari chicane when Ricciardo moved to the right and squeezed the German onto the grass.
Hulkenberg did a great job to save the car, but lost several positions in the process.
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Stewards took a dim view of Ricciardo’s move, and slapped him with a five second penalty.
Ricciardo said he approached his former Renault teammate after the race to clear the air, but didn’t contest that he deserved the penalty.
Daniel Ricciardo was given a five-second penalty for this collision with Nico Hulkenberg. FOX Sports
“I felt the hit, but I don’t know – was he half the car in the grass or did he just drop the outside tyre and that locked him up on braking,” Ricciardo queried per Speedcafe.
“Obviously I didn’t give him enough room, period, so the least I can do is apologise.
“I was also curious, how bad was it? I knew I was in the wrong, but was it something that he wanted to punch my face in? Or was it something that he was just like ‘Yeah, you misjudged it by 10 centimetres’.
“Obviously he said, ‘Yeah, you didn’t give me enough room’.
“I also wanted to ask, 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?”
Having started the race 12th, Ricciardo crossed the line at the end of lap one in 11th, at the expense of Hulkenberg.
To compound the issue, the five-second penalty for the Hulkenberg collision became a 10-second penalty for failing to serve it correctly.
When Ricciardo entered the pits to serve the penalty, a team member touched the front wing of the car. The rules state no crew member except the front jack operator may touch the car while the penalty is being served.
Daniel Ricciardo was given a 10-second penalty for failing to serve a five-second penalty when a mechanic touched the front of the car. Fox Sports
The mechanic, knowing what he’d done, immediately raised his hand to apologise.
Given Ricciardo didn’t stop again, the 10 seconds was added to his race time, which dropped him from 12th at the flag to 13th.
Recovering from the Ricciardo incident, Hulkenberg tried a banzai move on Ricciardo’s RB teammate Yuki Tsunoda into turn one at the start of the second lap, and crashed into his sidepod.
That collision earned Hulkenberg a 10-second penalty, and the damage forced Tsunoda to retire from the race.
The race was won by Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, sending the devoted home crowd – the Tifosi – into histerics.
Elsewhere, Hulkenberg’s teammate Kevin Magnussen has been slapped with a one-race ban and will miss the Azerbaijan Grand Prix for a relatively minor collision with the Alpine of Pierre Gasly.
On lap 18, Magnussen tried to slip down the inside at the second chicane, but locked the brakes. The pair made wheel-to-wheel contact, but both were able to continue without damage.
Charles Leclerc won the race for Ferrari. NurPhoto via Getty Images
Magnussen was given a 10-second penalty in the race, before stewards later slapped two penalty points on his racing licence, which tipped him over the threshold of a race ban.
Any driver that accrues 12 or more in a 12 month period is banned for a race. Romain Grosjean was the last driver to be hit with a ban, which came after he caused a massive pile up on the opening lap of the 2012 Belgian Grand Prix.
Speaking to Sky Sports after the race, but before the stewards had delivered their verdict, Magnussen said he had no concerns about a ban, and even questioned the severity of the 10-second penalty.
“Me and Gasly had slight contact, no damage on either car, no consequence in the race, just had slight contact and missed the corner,” he said.
Kevin Magnussen has been slapped with a one-race ban after picking up two penalty points on his licence for this collision with Pierre Gasly. Fox Sports
“And so what? We were racing. I don’t know why we need to be throwing around penalties like this.
“On top of that I saw Nico (Hulkenberg) nearly get thrown into the wall at 300kmh by Ricciardo – not saying he did it on purpose – but still, he got five seconds and I got 10 seconds.
“It doesn’t add up at all.
“It seems like they’re just throwing (penalties) around. They don’t want racing, that’s what it seems to me.
“If this thing can’t be deemed a racing incident, I don’t know what can.”
His seat at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in a fortnight will likely be taken by Oliver Bearman, the Ferrari academy driver who will drive for the Haas team full time in 2025.
Ricciardo was given one penalty point for his collision with Hulkenberg, while the German was given two for the Tsunoda crash.