- Daniel Ricciardo furious after near crash after race
- Aussie brands teammate Yuki Tsunoda immature
- Tsunoda was angry that he had to make way for a teammate
Daniel Ricciardo has called his Red Bull teammate Yuki Tsunoda ‘immature’ after the Japanese star ‘divebombed’ him after the Formula 1 season opener in Bahrain.
Max Verstappen drove to victory over teammate Sergio Perez and Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz in the race.
Aussie Oscar Piastri finished 8th, while Ricciardo and Tsunoda finished 13th and 14th.
Tsunoda led Ricciardo for much of the race, but the Australian made a late charge on newer tires and the Japanese driver was told to withdraw and let Ricciardo through.
‘Are you joking? Now?’ said an irate Tsunoda on the team radio.
Daniel Ricciardo was left furious after his teammate ‘bombed’ him after Formula 1 season opener
Yuki Tsunoda narrowly missed colliding with the Aussie after the race on the cooldown lap
Tsunoda continued after the race, sarcastically telling his team on the radio, “Yeah, thanks guys, I appreciate it…. He must speed up man. He’s not fast at all.’
The 23-year-old remained angry and rushed past Ricciardo on the cooldown lap with an attacking dive bomb.
Tsunoda then locked his front brakes and ran wide. He then accelerated past the Aussie and came within inches of him.
“What, what the hell is going on?” Ricciardo exclaimed.
‘Sorry. I’ll keep it. He has a damn helmet.”
Ricciardo had calmed down by the time he spoke to the media afterwards.
Asked if he had spoken to his hot-headed teammate, Ricciardo said: ‘I will let him cool down. We know what he is like. Obviously right now he’s very… that’s Yuki.
‘I’m doing well. I think in the long term. This is a long season so we have to be able to work together, so I’m not going to come in there with an angry attitude. We just have to be very honest and realistic that it should have happened when they called it.”
Ricciardo said after the race that his teammate was frustrated by team orders
The Japanese driver said the Aussie was ‘not fast at all’ and ‘needs to speed up’
‘I came on the radio and tried to stay calm. A bit of immaturity, let’s say so,” Ricciardo said of his teammate. ‘I’m very sensible at the moment, but let’s call it immaturity. He is clearly frustrated with the team orders.
“But let’s be honest: this is something we talked about before the race. It was very likely that I would use a soft at the end of the race.
“So he knew there was a chance that I would have a pace advantage at the end,” Ricciardo continued. ‘And when he gets the call, it’s going to happen.
‘He doesn’t give me any points. We are fighting for thirteenth place, so at least give us the best chance to get at least one car in the points.’
“It’s a long year,” said Ricciardo. “And we have to make sure we’re okay, so we’ll go back, have a meeting and be very mature about it, and look forward to Jeddah.”