Daniel Ricciardo claims he’s ‘not an a**hole’ while revealing that Lance Stroll still hasn’t ‘apologised’ for the Chinese GP crash

Lance Stroll rammed into the back of Daniel Ricciardo's VCARB 01 on lap 26 of the Chinese GP.

Daniel Ricciardo claims he’s ‘not an a**hole’ while revealing that Lance Stroll still hasn’t ‘apologised’ for the Chinese GP crash

Lance Stroll (L), Daniel Ricciardo (R) (images via IMAGO), Stroll crashing into Ricciardo's rear at the Chinese GP (via F1).

After the crash that led to Daniel Ricciardo missing out on points during the race in Shanghai, the Australian driver expected an apology from Lance Stroll. However, that apology has not come his way yet.

Lance Stroll ran straight into Daniel Ricciardo‘s VCARB 01 on lap 26 of the Chinese GP, the Domino effect began and Ricciardo struck Oscar Piastri. However, Piastri was able to end in points, but the weekend turned out to be one to forget for Ricciardo. Initially, the Canadian driver called the Aussi ‘foolish’ for the crash, yet the VCARB driver tried to maintain his calm. 

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To date, Stroll has not made an apology for what happened and while talking about the same, Ricciardo had the following to say. 

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If he texted just saying, ‘Yeah, you know, my bad’, whatever. Okay, I can accept an apology. I’m not that much of an a**ehole. But the fact that there’s not even that, he clearly doesn’t think he did anything wrong. So I guess there’s not much to say.
Daniel Ricciardo told: Planetf1

Stroll doesn’t believe that he has done anything wrong, hence the apology hasn’t been made. The Ricciardo-Stroll sort of incidents tend to happen during a Grand Prix, but like the true sportsman that he is, the 34-year-old has decided to move past the incident and focus on the upcoming Miami Grand Prix. 

VCARB team principal has shown his confidence in Daniel Ricciardo 

A sigh of relief for Daniel Ricciardo who has been on an emotional roller coaster ride ever since the start of the season, as the team principal Laurent Mekies, has shown his support. Mekies believes that Ricciardo has shown improvements in recent races and has thus, started getting his mojo back.

Laurent Mekies and Daniel Ricciardo
Laurent Mekies and Daniel Ricciardo (Via: Imago)

While talking about the same, Mekies had the following to add. 

We are seeing Daniel getting back on his trajectory. Already in Saudi, we were starting to say that we were seeing stuff that made us understand how to support him better,” he said. “So yeah, the trajectory is good.
Laurent Mekies via: PlanetF1

There have been a lot of speculations going around the paddock about Ricciardo potentially getting replaced by Liam Lawson. However, previously Mekies had admitted that the team’s focus is on making Ricciardo comfortable in their challenger, and their first step towards that was giving him a new chassis during the Chinese GP. The upcoming races from Miami onwards are immensely crucial for the former eight-time Grand Prix winner.

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