Daniel Ricciardo apologises to Nico Hulkenberg after opening lap incident at Italian Grand Prix

Australian F1 star Daniel Ricciardo has reached out to Nico Hulkenberg to apologise for an opening lap incident that did damage to both their races.

Australian F1 star Daniel Ricciardo has apologised for pushing Nico Hulkenberg off the track in the opening lap of the Italian Grand Prix that landed the RB driver a time penalty.

The pair ran wheel-to-wheel into the Ascari chicane, Ricciardo forcing his rival to drop two wheels onto the dirt.

Officials took a dim view of the incident and handed the Australian a five-second time penalty to be served at his first stop of the race.

However, a mistake from a mechanic saw him touch the car as it arrived, which resulted in a further 10-second stop being applied to Ricciardo’s race time.

It meant he fell from 12th at the chequered flag to 13th.

Daniel Ricciardo apologised to Nico Hulkenberg after the race. Picture: Rudy Carezzevoli/Getty Images

“I wanted to just quickly check in and see from his perspective,” Ricciardo said of his chat with Hulkenberg.

“I felt the hit, but I don’t know; was he half the car in the grass or did he just drop the outside tyre and that locked him up on braking.

“Obviously I didn’t give him enough room, period, so the least I can do is apologise.

“I was also curious, how bad was it? I knew I was in the wrong, but was it something that he wanted to punch my face in, or was it something that he was just like ‘Yeah, you misjudged it by 10 centimetres’.

“Obviously he said, ‘Yeah, you didn’t give me enough room’.

“I also wanted to ask, like, did I kind of jerk (across) or did I just progressively move across?

“I like to be aggressive, but I’m not dirty, so I wanted to make sure, from his point of view; was it just aggressive, or was I being a bit of a prick?”

The incident was the cherry on top of a frustrating start for Hulkenberg, who’d started 10th but crossed the line at the end of the opening lap only 16th.

“I just feel like we lost everything already on Lap 1,” Hulkenberg said.

“First chicane I just was somehow boxed in but in the wrong spot and then lost out.

“Then got a real strong tow off Danny, so went next to him on the outside but he swept across quite a lot and just didn’t leave enough room.

“We made contact, put me in the dirt. Anti-stall kicked in in fourth gear, so until I had that sorted out, I lost another three (or) four positions.”

Haas’ Nico Hulkenberg had a frustrating day out. Picture: Andrej Isakovic/AFP

From there, Hulkenberg’s race unravelled further with contact with Yuki Tsunoda into the opening chicane at the start of lap two which ended the RB driver’s race and left the German with a 10-second penalty to serve at his first stop.

The opening lap was race-defining for Ricciardo too.

Though he made ground, serving the penalty at his only stop – incorrectly as it transpired – hampered his progress.

However, he reasons even without the Hulkenberg clash, he’d have struggled to achieve much more.

“Big picture, I don’t think I’d really gained many positions at all on Lap 1 (this season), so up until that point it was okay,” Ricciardo reasoned of his start.

“I was being a bit more aggressive, which I think I liked, but then maybe I was having too much fun being aggressive, and I got too aggressive.

“I joke about it, but obviously I need to judge those things better.

“Beyond that big picture, we weren’t quite quick enough; (Kevin) Magnussen was quicker, (Alex) Albon was quicker.

“Without that stuff, we still wouldn’t have got points today.”

Daniel Ricciardo believes he was always a longshot of claiming points at Monza. Picture: Rudy Carezzevoli/Getty Images

While accepting the blame for the Hulkenberg clash, Ricciardo noted the role the track played in the incident.

Monza was resurfaced ahead of F1’s visit, with changes to kerbing around the venue.

That included the removal of kerbs in some locations, with cars pulling dirt onto the track where the verges had been left untreated.

“It sounds like an excuse, I don’t want it to come across as an excuse,” Ricciardo began.

“We know it couldn’t change, so it is what it is, and again, I should have left him more room, but in drivers’ briefing we talked about some of these edges of the track; why there’s not a kerb or something.

“Even getting on the white line, you flick up dust in qualifying, so it is tricky.

“I know what the conditions are today, but there was a kerb there last year, so maybe last year we would have got through it.

“But just when there’s dirt on the edges, and that’s not just my incident but quali, everything, you come across so much stuff on track all the time.

“Hopefully next year they can just put maybe a little bit of concrete or a kerb there to not only protect incidents like I had today, but just clean laps in quali.”

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Originally published as Daniel Ricciardo apologises to Nico Hulkenberg after opening lap incident at Italian Grand Prix