Daniel Ricciardo has admitted that Yuki Tsunoda needed to ‘cool down’ following the Bahrain GP after the two Visa Cash App RB drivers nearly collided during their in-laps.
The 2024 Formula 1 season got underway in Sakhir last Saturday but it was not the start to a year that the Faenza outfit wanted. Tsunoda was RB’s lead qualifier with 11th place ahead of Ricciardo in 14th. Yet the drivers finished the Bahrain GP in 14th and 13th place respectively.
Tsunoda missed out on a spot in Q3 by just 0.007 seconds to Oscar Piastri of McLaren, while Nico Hulkenberg put Haas in the top 10. But the 23-year-old would find himself stuck behind the other Haas of Kevin Magnussen during the final laps of the Grand Prix in a fight for 12th.
RB’s team orders angered Tsunoda at the 2024 F1 season-opening Bahrain GP
RB threatened to emerge as a potential podium threat in pre-season testing after tightening their relationship with Red Bull. Yet their focus quickly turned to just scoring points in Sakhir last Saturday. An early incident between Hulkenberg and Lance Stroll aided their quest, too.
Ricciardo had a slight advantage on Stroll and even Tsunoda as the 34-year-old had an extra set of soft tyres. But RB giving the Australian Pirelli’s softest compound in the closing stages meant he reeled in Tsunoda, who led the team previously called AlphaTauri’s hopes all race.
A tiny sniff at one point for P10 was enough for RB to order Tsunoda to let Ricciardo through while the Japanese driver fought Magnussen over P12. He initially resisted their request but, ultimately, let Ricciardo through only to see the Australian end the race right in front of him.
Ricciardo admits Tsunoda needed to ‘cool down’ after their post-race incident
Tsunoda’s frustration was as clear as day over RB’s team radio during the night race. He first vented, ‘Are you kidding me?’, at their initial request and added, ‘He’s got to speed up’, plus, ‘He’s not fast at all’, as Ricciardo repeated the 23-year-old’s inability to overtake Magnussen.
But Tsunoda’s frustration went over the limits after the chequered flag as he almost crashed into Ricciardo. The Kanagawa native first dived down the Perth native’s inside at Turn 13 and locked up. Tsunoda then burst past Ricciardo on the straight, just missing his RB teammate.
Discussing the two RB driver’s post-race incident at the Bahrain GP, Ricciardo admitted that Tsunoda needed to ‘cool down’. But the Australian also insisted that it was just a heat-of-the-moment clash and his focus is on the Faenza squad’s long-term plans in a 24-round season.
“No, I’ll let him cool down,” Ricciardo stated, via quotes by Sportskeeda. “I mean, we know what he’s like. It’s obviously during the moment. He’s very… that’s, again, Yuki.
“But I think once we get back to the room and that, he’ll be completely, completely fine. And, look, I’m okay. Like it’s, of course, again, I’m thinking long-term. This is a long season. So, we need to be able to work together.
“So, I’m not going to come in there with an angry attitude. It’s just, we have to be very honest and realistic that it should have happened when they called it.”
The post ‘Know what he’s like’: Ricciardo thinks 23-y/o F1 rival needs to ‘cool down’ after Bahrain GP incident appeared first on F1 Oversteer.