“Fu*k that guy,” Daniel Ricciardo blasts Lance Stroll after the Canadian blames him for their DANGEROUS Chinese GP crash

The Chinese GP was full of dramatic and unexpected incidents throughout the race. Notably, the RB crew had a nightmare session as both the VCARB drivers, Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda faced an unwarranted incident during the safety car restart. Lance Stroll drove into the rear of Ricciardo and caused him to retire from the race. Additionally, the Canadian driver blamed the Aussie for the incident, which struck a nerve in Ricciardo.

During the Chinese GP, Valtteri Bottas‘ engine failure caused safety car for all the drivers. During the safety car restart, Lance Stroll crashed into the rear of Daniel Ricciardo‘s VCARB 01. This caused major underbody damage to the Aussie’s chassis. Ricciardo had to soon retire from the race due to the damage to the challenger. Speaking over the incident, Lance Stroll took no responsibility for his fault and blamed the 34-year-old.

Daniel Ricciardo pointed out that he had started to calm down after the race culminated. However, listening to what Stroll said about the incident, reinstated Ricciardo’s anger. The Australian recalled the Canadian’s comment that he was the ‘Idiot’ and the entire incident was his fault. These comments made the 34-year-old’s blood boil because the incident was caused during a safety car restart.

I slowly started to calm down and then I was told what Lance thinks of the incident,” he stated. Apparently, I'm an idiot and it was my fault, so that made my blood boil because it's clear as day and it's also behind a safety car.

Daniel Ricciardo said, as reported by racingnews365.com.

Ricciardo reflected that the only thing necessary during a race is to watch out for the car in front. Additionally, the Honey Badger claimed that the race leader’s decisions during the restart are unpredictable, and hence the drivers need to be cautious.

However, Stroll’s comments still lingered in the Australian’s mind. As a result, the 34-year-old explained that he was controlling his anger and while commenting on it further, he threw an abuse towards the Canadian.

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, we can't assume that we're going to go into Turn 14, the race doesn't start till the control line. So I'm doing my best not to say what I want to say, but f*ck that guy - and I'm being nice still.

Daniel Ricciardo noted.

Daniel Ricciardo hopes for Lance Stroll to take some accountability over the incident

As per Lance Stroll’s comments, the driver was not ready to take any blame for the incident at all. The Canadian shrugged off the crash as a racing incident and blamed Ricciardo. However, the former eighth-time Grand Prix winner expected the 25-year-old to take some sort of accountability for the crash. Anyhow, if Stroll refused to do so, the Honey Badger mentioned that he couldn’t ‘help it’. Ricciardo reiterated how the entire accident was ‘frustrating’ for him.

I won't go harder because maybe in an hour when he sees it, he might take some accountability, But if he doesn't, I can't help him. It's so so frustrating. Obviously, racing incidents happen, but behind a safety car, that should never happen.

Daniel Ricciardo explained.

Apart from this, Daniel Ricciardo mentioned that he rewatched the entire incident from Aston Martin’s POV just to get some understanding. However, this further proved that the incident was Stroll’s fault.

Ricciardo claimed that during the Turn 14, the 25-year-old driver was looking much ahead of the grid and not the driver in the front. Hence, this caused the crash because Stroll wasn’t worried about the car in front when he should’ve.

What makes my blood boil is, I've watched his onboard to try to maybe just have some type of understanding. And as soon as we start braking, you can see his helmet turn right. He’s looking at the apex of Turn 14, he’s not even watching me. When he looks back, he’s in the back of me. I don’t know what he’s doing or where his head is, but all you have to do is worry about me in that situation and he clearly wasn’t.

Daneil Ricciardo concluded.

Yuki Tsunoda‘s crash and retirement rubbed more salt in the wounds of VCARB‘s hopes of scoring some points over the weekend. Faenza has been showcasing some consistency since the beginning of the 2024 season. However, weekends such as the Shanghai one could prove fatal in their constructors’ championship standings toward the latter half of the season.

In case you missed it:

• Christian Horner claims ‘not worrying’ about Max Verstappen has helped Sergio Perez
• Lando Norris reveals his ‘35 second bet’ over defeating Ferrari at the Chinese GP

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