Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso had locked up on the approach to the hairpin as the field began to slow and compress after the restart following a Safety Car.
That created a concertina effect, with George Russell braking to avoid Alonso.
Oscar Piastri also braked to avoid Russell, with Ricciardo braking to avoid Piastri.
Stroll was next up and did not slow sufficiently and thus crashed heavily into the back of Ricciardo, causing enough damage to force the RB’s retirement.
Stroll had the following to say;
“Someone braked at the front of the pack, I don’t know who. And then everyone stops. The car in front of me just stopped from like 60 (kph) to zero – so a really stupid incident.
“I got a penalty because of the end result, that I hit Ricciardo. But it’s not like everyone was normal and I just slammed into the back of him.”
“And there was a really odd concertina effect that I would have liked to see the stewards take into consideration maybe a little bit more”, He concluded.
Ricciardo had a similar yet opposing view ;
“It’s a restart, so we don’t know what the leader is going to do. So you have to be vigilant and prepared for any situation.
“Obviously how hard he’s hit me, and pretty much put half his car under mine, it wasn’t a small lack of judgement – he was miles off. So, for me, that’s not an excuse.
“I watched the onboard and he’s not even looking at me. He’s looking at the apex of the corner. I don’t know why he’s not looking at me.”
The stewards appear to have agreed with Ricciardo, after they had a look at video, timing and marshalling system data and determined that Stroll was to blame, handing him a 10-second penalty and two penalty points (taking his total to seven for the 12-month period).
The stewards said Stroll “ought to have anticipated the pace of the cars in front, particularly Car 3 (Ricciardo) and should have prepared to brake accordingly.
“Had he done that, he would have avoided the collision. Hence Stroll was predominantly to blame for the collision that ultimately led to Ricciardo having to retire from the race.”
Why was Hulkenberg allowed to overtake Ricciardo under Article 55.8 ?
As a result of Ricciardo being hit by Stroll such that his car was severely damaged, Nico Hülkenberg drove past Ricciardo under safety car conditions.
Ricciardo later believed he was entitled to reclaim the position he had lost however the stewards referred to Article 55.8 which states that “no driver may overtake another car” under safety car conditions.
That article though does list exceptions; Specifically, 55.8(h) allows for a legal overtake “if any car slows with an obvious problem.”
In this case, Ricciardo’s “obvious problem” was being pushed off the track by Stroll.
The stewards allowd that but determined that there was “no justifiable basis” for Ricciardo to re-pass Hülkenberg a lap after the safety car was called back out.
Hence, Ricciardo received a grid penalty for the Miami Grand Prix .
Be the first to comment