Advertisement

Formula one: Another backward step for Ricciardo at Renault

Daniel Ricciardo reverses his Renault into Daniil Kvyat's Toro Rosso.

Daniel Ricciardo reverses his Renault into Daniil Kvyat's Toro Rosso. Photo: Getty

Daniel Ricciardo may well be looking in the rear view mirror and wondering if he made the right choice to leave Red Bull for Renault, but on track at the Azerbaijan Prix he should have looked before selecting reverse.

The Australian retired after a bizarre incident on Lap 31 when he and Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat both missed turn three on the tight Baku City Circuit.

Frantically trying to get back into the race, Ricciardo selected reverse and ran back into the Russian ending both their races.

Ricciardo had started 10th of the grid and made a good start, but the poor pace and grip of his Renault meant he was battling midfield for much of the day.

After the race he apologised to his former Red Bull teammate.

“It was a strange incident which forced the retirement, but it was my mistake and I’m sorry to the team and to Daniil [Kvyat]. It was a bit of urgency on my behalf and I didn’t think straight for a few seconds, so I have to take that one on the chin,” he said.

“The team certainly deserved more today. We were bringing on a nice rhythm there and had some good pace on the Medium to continue on and we probably could have scored points.”

Renault team principal Cyril Abiteboul, who had high hopes before the season, acknowledged that the car provided to Ricciardo has not been competitive.

“Very clearly, it’s been a bad weekend. From FP1 onwards we never found our pace despite big changes to the car overnight,” he said. “We finally managed to recover an acceptable competitiveness level during the race for Daniel …

“Overall, the first stint of the season has been disappointing, but if we manage to get all things in order we can have a decent competitiveness level as demonstrated on several occasions.

We must absolutely see the start of the European season as an opportunity to reset.”

Kvyat – who is not immune to snafus of his own – accepted Ricciardo’s apology in good spirit.

“These things happen, it’s racing like I always said when I make a mistake,” he said.

“I was a bit disappointed right in the moment but now what can you do about it? There was potential for maybe a point or two today.”

Valtteri Bottas won the race on Sunday to retake the Championship lead from teammate Lewis Hamilton after a fourth successive one-two finish for Mercedes.

-with AAP 

Stay informed, daily
A FREE subscription to The New Daily arrives every morning and evening.
The New Daily is a trusted source of national news and information and is provided free for all Australians. Read our editorial charter
Copyright © 2024 The New Daily.
All rights reserved.