After the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, Daniel Ricciardo remarked that he “hated” having to apologise to Carlos Sainz.
However, putting all jokes aside, the Australian “felt better” for what he had done and believes there will be no lingering effects from their first-lap collision in Imola when they meet up again.
The McLaren and Ferrari were beside each other at the Tamburello chicane on a wet course, with Ricciardo on the inside when they collided, Sainz having appeared to allow adequate space for his rival.
Ricciardo’s McLaren collided with Sainz’s Ferrari, sending the Spaniard into the gravel and out of the race, whereas the McLaren was able to continue – albeit uncompetitively, as minor damage and a pair of no-risk strategy gambles that failed to pay off meant he finished last of the 18 drivers.
Following the incident, Ricciardo accepted responsibility and stated in his post-race interviews that he would seek out Sainz and apologise, which he did after being shown on TV cameras at the Ferrari hospitality area.
Later, Sainz congratulated his adversary for doing so, stating that it “honoured” Ricciardo and that the Ferrari technicians were also impressed.
Ricciardo said it wasn’t an easy thing he’d found himself doing during an interview with Trevor Noah on The Daily Show in New York.
“I hated every second of the apology,” said Ricciardo as he and the show’s presenter laughed.
“Again, I think probably just like with experience and just being in it (Formula 1) for so long I know I have, I guess, the maturity now to know how much we all put into it.”
“And as competitive as we are, we all have something strongly in common and there’s only 20 of us in the world that do it, there’s only 20 F1 drivers, so you kind of just respect everyone’s journey.”
“And so the incident, if I hold myself accountable for something, then I feel like I want to just apologise.”
“It’s nothing personal. I don’t think everyone would do it, but for me I just felt better by doing it,” he added.
“So we kind of like clean slate for the next one and I know when we come alongside each other on track next there will be an intensity but nothing heightened, I guess.”
