Furious Daniel Ricciardo shoots insults at the FIA over team radio at Brazil GP: I’m an a***ole, thank you FIA

Daniel Ricciardo, after being unlucky at the start of the Brazilian Grand Prix, appeared to be furious over a radio call as he referred to the FIA.

Furious Daniel Ricciardo shoots insults at the FIA over team radio at Brazil GP: I’m an a***ole, thank you FIA

Daniel Ricciardo (via Imago)

The Australian, still quite fresh off of his ‘second’ comeback in Formula 1, experienced a troubling start to his Brazilian Grand Prix. The AlphaTauri driver was adversely affected by the first lap collision between Kevin Magnussen, Alex Albon, Nico Hulkenberg, and Oscar Piastri. Following the chaotic crash, a tire appeared to have struck the rear wing of Ricciardo’s AlphaTauri.

Ricciardo later took to the radio to explain how his rear wing was broken on the tire’s impact. Meanwhile, the red flag were brought at Interlagos due to the multi-driver collision, this meant that the race would be restarted as per the new driver positions.

https://youtu.be/LAlXb7-9jVg?si=UVakzY39ZQIGIMTU

The AlphaTauri driver, who had to resort to the pits because of his damaged rear wing, found out that the FIA had allowed him to restart the Grand Prix with the mended rear wing. However, Ricciardo was penalised by the stewards and was awarded a lap disadvantage, which saw the driver start a whole lap behind the rest of the grid. McLaren’s Oscar Piastri suffered a similar fate.

FS Video

Daniel Ricciardo, again took to the radio to express his dismay with the steward’s decision as he sarcastically talked about it, as reported by f1ingenerale. 

I'm an a***ole, thank you FIA. First of all, I think it shows a flaw in the rules, because I don't think we have completed a lap of the race and in any case we found ourselves behind a round. We had time to fix the wing, but then they told us we had a lap disadvantage.

Daniel Ricciardo thinks a Sprint at every weekend wouldn’t work for Formula 1

With a confirmed contract extension with AlphaTauri for the upcoming season, Ricciardo shared his perspective on the potential future introduction of Sprint races at every Formula 1 weekend as the Australian driver awaits his own future in the sport.Ricciardo started out acknowledging his fondness for certain Sprint races. However, he remained skeptical about the prospect of having them every weekend.

Daniel Ricciardo (via Planet F1)
Daniel Ricciardo (via Planet F1)

Daniel Ricciardo commented on the FIA’s plan to introduce the short races at every Grand Prix weekend. 

I've done three sprints. I liked some of them, there's room for a few of them.

The Australian driver compared this idea to the current format in MotoGP, where Sprint Races are featured at every circuit. MotoGP’s decision to implement Sprint Races at all events has significantly impacted the championship dynamics, bringing more excitement to fans amidst falling viewership counts.

However, Ricciardo made it clear that he doesn’t want Formula 1 to replicate the MotoGP approach, emphasizing his preference for a more conventional weekend format. He suggested that having around a dozen Sprint races annually would be acceptable but expressed his reservations about adopting a similar approach to MotoGP. The Sprint race format was introduced to Formula 1 in 2021, with the 2023 calendar including six Sprint races across six separate Grand Prix weekends.