In what was rather a dour and forgettable Bahrain Grand Prix, it was left to RB F1 to provide some post-race controversy following a rather disappointing Grand Prix.
As the race approached the closing laps, Ricciardo on his new soft tyres caught Tsunoda on hards. The Japanese driver was stuck behind Kevin Magnussen in the Haas and couldn’t get close enough to find a way by.
RB F1 asked Tsunoda to give Ricciardo the position and he eventually ceded it with five laps to go.
However, the Australian driver also ended up stuck behind the Dane as they crossed the line in P13 and P14. The best of his soft tyre had probably been used before he got into that position.
The real spice came on the cooldown lap as Tsunoda sent a divebomb and went deep into turn 8 on his teammate as he was left fuming by what happened. On the exit, he lit his rear tyres up and came dangerously close to hitting the Perth born driver.
It prompted Ricciardo to say, “What the fuck, I’ll save it — he’s a fucking helmet.”
Told he finished P14 before he pulled off his moves, Tsunoda was blunt and said, “Yeah, whatever.”
Ricciardo explained his initial radio message where he displayed a bit of anger before controlling himself.
“I don’t know, I came on the radio and was trying to stay cool. A bit of immaturity, let’s say that.
“I’m being very sensible right now, but let’s call it immaturity.”
Ricciardo stated that Tsunoda knew before the race about the possibility of team orders. The Japanese driver used his new softs in the first stint and went for a S-H-H strategy, with Ricciardo going S-H-S, saving his new boots for the final stint.
“He’s obviously frustrated with the team orders call. But let’s be real, this is something we talked about before the race. It was very likely I was going to use a soft at the end of the race.
“So he knew that there was a chance that I would have a pace advantage at the end and if he gets the call, then it’s going to happen.
“He’s not giving me points, we’re fighting for 13th, so at least give us the best chance to get at least one car in the points. It’s a long year and we need to make sure we’re all good, so we’ll go back, have a meeting and be very mature about it, and look forward to Jeddah.”
The 34-year-old would have had no problem giving the place back if requested to, and he wished Tsunoda had let him through when first requested to do so.
Nonetheless, Ricciardo wants to talk things through with Tsunoda before Jeddah.
“Whether I’m 13th or 14th, I don’t know if any driver cares about that but I don:t. So if the team said let him back by before the finish line, I would’ve done it because it means nothing to me. Unless we’re in the points, who cares?
“I think if you’re in a points position, if he’s letting me by for ninth, he’s tenth or whatever, then you maybe swap again if I can’t get eighth. But in that situation I guess it didn’t matter. So look, it’s race one of 24.
“Yes, there was a little bit of conflict today, but I don’t want that to set the tone. I think we talk about it now in the briefing, honestly, and hopefully once he’s calmed down, he can say, ‘OK, yeah, I should’ve moved a lap earlier.’”
From Tsunoda’s side, he explained the cooldown lap moment with Ricciardo: “I wasn’t really close with Daniel [to hitting him], to be honest.”
Tsunoda admitted he was left confused by the call as Lance Stroll in P10 was well down the road and realistically Ricciardo could have only got P11.
“To be honest, I don’t know.
“He was outside of [the] points. I was just about to overtake Magnussen, I was side-by-side in the main straight and a driver swap in the last few laps.
“To be honest, I don’t understand what was the team’s thoughts.”
The Japanese driver will be seeking talks with the team about the fact Ricciardo wasn’t asked to give the spot back.
“To be honest, yes. We were outside of the points and also that’s kind of the rules that we spoke about.
“We have to definitely review that for the future.”
Tsunoda and Ricciardo reflect on team orders and controversial incident on cooldown lap in F1 Bahrain GP
