WATCH: “No way!” Max Verstappen and Lando Norris shocked to see Lance Stroll’s collision with Daniel Ricciardo post-race at Chinese GP

The 2024 Chinese Grand Prix was eventful race for varied reasons!

WATCH: “No way!” Max Verstappen and Lando Norris shocked to see Lance Stroll’s collision with Daniel Ricciardo post-race at Chinese GP

Max Verstappen and Lando Norris (Via: Imago, X/Leclercletters, screenshot)

The Chinese GP weekend was filled with chaos ever since the wet sprint qualifying on Friday. The chaos then transversed to the race as Lance Stroll collided with Daniel Ricciardo even before the safety car restart. Subsequently, after the end of the 56-lap event, in the cooldown room, Max Verstappen and Lando Norris were shocked to see the bizarre incident between the two.

The Chinese Grand Prix was taking place in a smooth fashion but all that changed when Valtteri Bottas‘s Sauber got stranded on the circuit. This called for yellow flags and even a safety car was called out. However, this closed the pack up and before the safety car restart Lance Stroll slammed his AMR24 into the rear of Daniel Ricciardo‘s VCARB 01 at the turn 14 hairpin.

Subsequently, the cooldown room was filled with discussions of the chaos that ensued at the rear of the pack.

https://twitter.com/leclercsletters/status/1781971244876792172?s=46

When the incident between the Canadian and the Aussie was replayed in the cooldown room, the trio of Max Verstappen, Lando Norris, and Sergio Perez analyzed the clash closely. The Mexican seemed bewildered, and on the other hand, the duo of Norris and Verstappen were shocked as they commented, ‘No way‘ while watching the incident in disbelief.

Daniel Ricciardo blamed Lance Stroll for the incident

After being slammed by the Aston Martin, the Aussie suffered damage to his diffuser and had to retire the car. This led him to develop a sour taste between himself and Stroll and blamed the latter for the wreckless crash.

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

The 34-year-old gave his view on the clash with the Aston Martin driver.

Its a restart, so we don't know what the leader will do. And, you need to be prepared for anything. I saw it bunching up, and I saw how hard he hit me. It wasn't like a small lapse of judgement. I saw his onboard, and he wasn't looking at me, he was looking at the apex. I don't know what he was looking at unless, he's eyes do a funny thing.
Daniel Ricciardo said in the post-race interview, via Junaid Samodien on X

The Australian elaborated that everyone was following the leader and waiting for the signal to go flat-out. However, out of the blue Stroll hit him, causing significant damage to his car. Later, after viewing the onboard footage, Ricciardo deciphered that Stroll was not paying attention to the gap between him and the RB and reckoned it to be a lack of judgment on the part of the 25-year-old.

Moreover, the stewards felt the same as Ricciardo and gave Stroll a 10-second penalty for the incident. This led him out of the contention for points, and eventually finished 15th. Whereas his teammate, Fernando Alonso secured seventh place and the fastest lap of the race, extending his lead in the intra-team battle.

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