Furious F1 rival slams Daniel Ricciardo for ‘dirty’ act at US GP

Not everyone was buying Daniel Ricciardo’s funny guy act in Austin as a furious Ferrari star accused the Aussie of playing “dirty”.

Daniel Ricciardo was accused of playing "dirty". Photo: Fox Sports.

Daniel Ricciardo capped off a fun weekend in Austin by finishing fifth at the US Grand Prix, as Max Verstappen extended his championship lead over title rival Lewis Hamilton.

After starting second on the grid, Hamilton stormed ahead of Verstappen following lights out but the Dutchman wasn’t behind for long, regaining the lead and crossing the line first in a thrilling race that went down to the wire.

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Hamilton was second while Verstappen’s Red Bull colleague Sergio Perez rounded out the podium.

In a wild start to the race, Ricciardo climbed up to fifth then fell behind to seventh as Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and McLaren teammate Lando Norris sandwiched him out of the running.

But before the opening lap was over, the Aussie catapulted himself back up to fifth courtesy of some audacious overtaking. That’s where he stayed for the meat of the race before finding himself in a tussle with Sainz to maintain his position in the final laps.

With 13 laps to go, Sainz made his move and tried to go the long way around Ricciardo on a corner but it didn’t work. The pair made contact and Sainz failed to get past as he remained stranded on the outside.

The Spaniard accused his rival of unfairly nudging him out of the way to maintain track position.

“That got a bit dirty. He did that on purpose, guys,” an angry Sainz said over team radio.

However, Sky Sports commentator Martin Brundle didn’t believe there was anything untoward in the incident, saying Ricciardo was entitled to defend the way he did.

Speaking after the race, Ricciardo laughed off the incident as the Sky Sports commentary team joked they wanted to see what he did with the steering wheel in that moment — a reference to possibly intentionally veering into Sainz.

“Let’s go, let’s go,” Ricciardo said while pumping his fist as he watched a replay. “That was a good time.

“Oh my gosh. I actually forgot I got this. Oh my gosh.

“I was pumped up after getting Carlos.”

Daniel Ricciardo and Carlos Sainz went wheel-to-wheel.

Sainz addressed the clash afterwards, saying: “My take is that the guy on the inside does this kind of thing on purpose always to try and squeeze the guy on the outside. I would have done the same.

“The thing is it got a bit rough with the contact. I think he could have done it a bit cleaner because I nearly spun.

“But it’s all good. I would have done a similar thing if I was in his position. It was a good battle.”

There was to be no repeat attack in the dying stages as Sainz found himself too far adrift to try another overtake and Ricciardo kept his composure to cross the line fifth — an impressive result after he qualified seventh fastest for the race.

Charles Leclerc was the man ahead of Ricciardo in fourth but all eyes were at the front in the final few laps. Hamilton closed the gap behind Verstappen to just over one second, surging ahead on fresher tyres as the gripping battle reached its climax.

Verstappen demanded over the radio that Mick Schumacher move out of the way because he was holding him up and in danger of being lapped. Thankfully for Red Bull, the son of F1 legend Michael Schumacher knew what was unfolding behind him and allowed Verstappen and Hamilton past to continue their battle.

Try as he might, Hamilton just couldn’t get close enough to overtake and Verstappen held on for a nailbiting win to cement his standing at the top of the drivers’ championship.

The pair were fighting for every inch. Photo: Fox Sports.

US Grand Prix results (top 10)

1) Max Verstappen, Red Bull

2) Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes

3) Sergio Perez, Red Bull

4) Charles Leclerc, Ferrari

5) Daniel Ricciardo, McLaren

6) Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes

7) Carlos Sainz, Ferrari

8) Lando Norris, McLaren

9) Yuki Tsunoda, AlphaTauri

10) Sebastian Vettel, Aston Martin