Daniel Ricciardo was too greedy and paid the price just seconds into the Mexico Grand Prix as he killed a rival’s golden hopes of winning.
Daniel Ricciardo’s race started in disastrous fashion as chaos hit the opening lap of the Mexico Grand Prix.
Max Verstappen cruised to victory and extended his lead at the top of the drivers’ standings, while Lewis Hamilton finished second as Sergio Perez crossed the line third to ensure both Red Bull stars stood on the podium on Monday morning (AEST).
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Ricciardo was never in the hunt, finishing out of the points in a disappointing 12th.
The safety car was brought out as Ricciardo and Mercedes suffered major blows seconds after lights out. Verstappen, starting third on the grid behind Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas, shot out of the gate and assumed the lead as carnage unfolded in his wake.
Ricciardo was seventh to begin with and tried to make his move up, soon finding himself side-by-side with Perez under braking. But then the West Australian clipped Bottas, who had slipped down the field after starting on pole.
As a result of contact with Ricciardo, Bottas spun out and sunk to P18 while the Aussie also suffered some unwanted damage. He wrecked his front wing and needed to head into the pits to have the issue sorted as he too dropped all the way down the field.
When the safety car departed and the race resumed, Ricciardo and Bottas were at the very back of the pack in 17th and 18th.
Ricciardo hadn’t seen a replay of the incident when interviewed on TV after the race but apologised to Bottas and explained what went wrong.
“There was definitely a lot going on,” Ricciardo said. “The first few hundred metres down to Turn One, to be honest they’re always fun here because there are so many slipstreams, it’s dusty, its kind of chaos but there is some form of fun in the chaos.
“I think there was room on the inside with Perez, so there was a gap. It was one of those ones, if you don’t go for a gap someone else will. You can easily just get swallowed up.
“At that time let’s say it was a reasonable bit of space to go for. From memory it felt fairly under control in the first part of braking and then as we got closer to the apex obviously everyone starts to close in.
“I locked a little bit then at that moment, Valtteri’s come across.
“I apologise to him, without really seeing it. But I’m the one that went into him so of course at the very least I’ll say sorry for now and see if there’s much I could have done or if it’s just simply a Turn One incident as a bottleneck kind of thing.”
Even though it looked like Ricciardo was in the wrong for nudging an unsuspecting Bottas, Sky Sports commentator Martin Brundle said the 32-year-old “won’t face the music” with stewards because it was classified as a “racing incident”.
Sky F1 analyst Karun Chandhok said there was no love lost between Mercedes and Ricciardo as the Aussie avoided any official sanction.
“I have spoken to a couple of the Mercedes engineers and they are livid that Daniel didn’t end up with a penalty,” Chandhok said after the race.
BBC broadcaster Christian Hewgill tweeted: “If you’re Valtteri Bottas you feel a bit miffed that Daniel Ricciardo won’t be punished for punting him off at the start. I think people have been given penalties for less this season.”
Mercedes Esports driver Jarno Opmeer added: “How was Ricciardo not penalised for that lap one move?”
Brundle said Ricciardo and Bottas were so far behind the rest of the pack their race was already effectively over.
They moved up into 11th and 12th respectively but were still well behind the leaders as Verstappen and Perez led the way for Red Bull at the front of the field.
Verstappen was in clear air for much of the race as he led by as much as 17 seconds, well ahead of Hamilton, who was doing his best to hold off hometown hero Perez.
Bottas and Ricciardo were involved in a long-running duel — every time the Finn tried to get past his Aussie rival, the McLaren star did just enough to maintain his advantage.
Bottas managed to snag the fastest lap but will be devastated to have finished so far off the pace in 15th after qualifying fastest.