BUDAPEST, Hungary — Daniel Ricciardo’s frustration turned to anger as he drove back to the pits after the Hungarian Grand Prix as he waited for an apology from his RB team which never came.
Ricciardo had a standout qualifying performance on Saturday but after starting ninth he finished out of the points in 12th.
He had pitted on lap seven, with RB appearing to follow the lead of other rivals in the pack around him also making early stops.
That call left the Australian in a frustrating race stuck in a queue of cars stuck on near-identical strategies.
RB teammate Yuki Tsunoda did not make his first stop until lap 27 and managed to finish ninth, which added to Ricciardo’s frustration at what might have been.
Asked if he was disappointed, he said: “Massively. Why they pitted me when they did at the beginning was … we followed the set of cars in — they’ve just come in, we have a clear track, and we decided to pit behind them and put ourselves in a DRS train.
“And it’s like … then on the same tyre, all on a hard, so … that was, I mean, well, I’ve had a lot of races, and I’ve had a lot of frustrating ones. But that’s up there. Because we had the pace and we basically gave Yuki the race that we had in front of us. And we both could have done that. And we didn’t.”
Ricciardo said his frustration boiled over in the lap back to the pits when waiting for someone to take account for the strategy he had been put on.
“I didn’t have time [to question the call]. It’s a late call, ‘box box box’ and you pit. But honestly, as soon as I’m pulling in the pits … I’m questioning. You know, you get called in Turn 13 – and you have to react.
“Two cars jumped us at the start with a soft tyre. That’s fine, let them go. They pit — and we follow them. To then just be on their strategy. It’s … We would have had clear air and a chance to, I think, [have] Yuki’s race. I honestly, I was expecting more. On the in lap I was waiting for, ‘Sorry. We f—-d up.’ And I didn’t get it. So, that made me even more angry.”
Ahead of the weekend Ricciardo, who has not yet been offered an extension with RB for 2025, said he was treating Hungary and Belgium are the two most important races of his career.
On whether that made the situation even more frustrating, he said: “Yes, definitely. And then, like Stroll’s catching me a second lap and maybe more and they’re saying, you know, it’s really important to keep him behind and what do you want me to do? You pitted me so early. I’m on older tyres. I’m also being expected to fight when we’re not really in a fight anymore.
“So, that was also frustrating, you know, it’s like, there was times where I just felt like we … the bed was made. Frustrated.”
Source: www.espn.com