Daniel Ricciardo ‘semi-apologises’ after Austrian Grand Prix drama

Daniel Ricciardo was all smiles after an impressive performance that has not gone unnoticed, but he needed to make one apology.

Daniel Ricciardo has impressed at the Austrian Grand Prix to secure championship points for his team in the 250th race of his Formula 1 career.

The 34-year-old’s drive to steer his Visa Cash App RB to finish ninth in an action-packed race has not gone unnoticed and his job certainly seems safer than it did three days ago.

The Australian is under immense pressure within the RB team garage after senior Red Bull adviser Helmut Marko made explosive comments about the team wanting to go in a different direction in 2025.

There were also reports Ricciardo will be replaced by Liam Lawson before the end of the season.

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Not for the first time this season, Ricciardo has been able to tell his critics to “suck s***”.

Ricciardo’s race unfolded largely without any attention on the Sky Sports broadcast with late drama between Max Verstappen and Lando Norris erupting.

The Perth product benefited from a clever team strategy to pit twice early before a marathon run on hard tyres.

His impressive drive was particularly frustrating for Alpine driver Pierre Gasly who was unable to get past Ricciardo in the run to the finish line.

Gasly had plenty of time to sneak past Ricciardo on fresher tyres, but the former Alpine driver made the task impossible.

Daniel Ricciardo was all smiles. Photo by Rudy Carezzevoli/Getty Images.

Ricciardo was all smiles after the race, but felt like he had to make one apology.

“It was hard fought,” Ricciardo said.

“I semi apologised to Pierre after the race, ‘Sorry I couldn’t talk much today. I was pretty locked in’.

“It took a lot of concentration and effort. We got some points, bit of damage limitation. So it’s been a better weekend.”

The damage he was referring to was rival team Haas having both its drivers pick up championship points.

Gasly also made a light-hearted apology to Ricciardo.

“Sorry, I feel bad I pushed you so hard today, Daniel.” he said.

“But good job. Good job. It was not an easy car this weekend and you made the max of it, so you should be pleased with yourself.”

Ricciardo’s quality drive did not go unnoticed.

Former F1 driver Jolyon Palmer said on F1 TV: “I think Ricciardo has been doing well.

“When you think Canada two races ago he qualified fifth. He got some points even though he got a penalty for creeping at the start. It’s not that long ago he had the Miami heroics in the sprint.

Daniel Ricciardo was a wall at the end of the race. Photo: AFP.

“Anytime he doesn’t do well, it’s a headline now because he’s under pressure, but he’s actually been low key picking up some results recently.

“He’s very inconsistent and we talk about him more when he’s down than when he’s having the good moments. Again, banking some points, beating Yuki (Tsunoda) this weekend. I think he’s doing his future some good right now.”

Ricciardo was asked about Marko’s comments after the race and said he hopes this weekend will have helped the veteran official change his mind.

“I’ve known obviously Helmut such a long time, and at the end of the day he doesn’t care about personality,” Ricciardo said.

“He goes about is the stopwatch and the classification. He’s a racer, and that’s all he really wants to see from us.

“That can make him not think great about me to all of a sudden think great about me.

“I think this weekend’s helped.

“As I said, it’s a little bit more consistent now, so just keep it going and hopefully by the summer break he’s laying on a beach somewhere saying ‘Ricciardo, he’s still got it’.”

Ricciardo’s teammate Tsunoda finished 15th.

Ricciardo now has 11 championship points this year, while the Japanese driver has 19 points.

There are three more races before the summer break with the drivers to do it all again at the British Grand Prix on July 8.

Originally published as Daniel Ricciardo ‘semi-apologises’ after Austrian Grand Prix drama