Daniel Ricciardo, Yuki Tsunoda relay of what transpired between the Visa Cash App RB drivers towards the end of F1 Bahrain GP.
It wasn’t a crazy F1 Bahrain GP as many would have expected but there was dramas still. It was provided by the Visa Cash App RB drivers when the team deployed team orders due to different strategy, but it didn’t go down well for Tsunoda at least.
The Japanese driver was on the hard compound chasing Haas’ Kevin Magnussen for 12th, while Ricciardo was just behind on the soft compound. The Australian wasn’t on a new set and seemingly had pace but perhaps not as much to clear the Dane quickly.
After couple of laps of discussions, Tsunoda gave up but not before his angry radio messages. There was no swap back either which further angered the Japanese driver as he dived on the inside of Ricciardo on the cool down lap at the right hander.
He locked-up but stayed with Ricciardo on the straight where they could have almost collided with each other. Interestingly, there was radio silence from Tsunoda all-through the cool down lap with no messages about post-race procedures as well.
On the other hand, Ricciardo discussed about the race and the procedure, while also noting about what Tsunoda did on the cool down lap. “What the f—?! I’ll save it. He’s a f—ing helmet!,” he noted, before continuing on about the race in general.
Post-race, Ricciardo stated that there were discussions about such swaps and that Tsunoda acted a bit immaturely which he didn’t expect. But he was giving him time to collect himself, while the Japanese driver thought the timing wasn’t good.
“I came on the radio and was trying to stay cool. A bit of immaturity, let’s say that,” Ricciardo said to F1 TV after watching the replays. “I’m being very sensible right now, but let’s call it immaturity. 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.”
Here’s further from the two drivers –
Not happy with the swap –
Tsunoda: “To be honest, I don’t know. It was outside of points. I was just about to overtake Magnussen, I was side by side one the main straight and got a driver swap for the last few laps. So yeah, to be honest, I didn’t understand what the team thought. So I have to understand what’s the… what they were thinking, but you know to be honest, so far I don’t understand. I was also second behind the car in front and I was just overtaking Magnussen. And he also didn’t overtake Magnussen. So yeah, we have to review what was their thoughts to be honest, I don’t really understand.”
Give place back –
Tsunoda: “Yeah, to be honest. Yes. Then… outside of points, so… And also, that was kind of the rule what we spoke about. But. Yeah. We have to definitely review that for the future.”
Strategy, disappointment –
Tsunoda: “Yeah, very disappointed, I would say, probably more towards that. Because I think I was driving quite well, within points, and suddenly dropped back to.. more the stops, more go backwards… So it’s pretty painful before race, but we learned from it. And hopefully… we hope that we learn from it, and we will avoid in the future.”
Team order, what went on –
Ricciardo: “Yes really that was it. We talked about it before the race and we go through strategy and we have a few plans of what strategy that we might do, but it was highly likely that we starting on the new soft meant I was going to finish the race on a new soft and have an attacking last stint. The call was quite expected. I know when you are in the race and you are a little bit more emotional and it is a bit more intense but this call came as no surprise. Obviously every lap counts when you are on this tyre and trying to get this little bit of grip out of it so you need to react to the team call. Also we weren’t in a points position yet so there was really nothing to lose. Just let me go and see if I can do something about.”
Discussion about giving place back –
Ricciardo: “If we were in a points position but in the end whether I am 13th or 14th, I don’t know if any driver cares about that but I don’t so, if the team had let him back by before the finish line I would’ve done it because it means nothing to me. Unless we are in the points who cares? But it is really just if you are in the points position. If he was letting me by for ninth and he is 10th or whatever then maybe yeah you swap again if I cannot get eighth. But in that situation it didn’t matter. It is race one of 24 and yes there was a little bit of conflict today but I don’t want that to set the tone. I think we will talk about it now in the briefing honestly and hopefully once he has calmed down he can say, ‘OK, yeah I should’ve moved a lap earlier’.”
Delay in letting go, spoken to him –
Ricciardo: “It was more than one lap, I can’t remember, a bit more than a lap. I’ll let him cool down. We know what he is like. During the moment he is very – he’s Yuki – but once we get back to the room he will be completely fine. I am OK, of course, I am thinking long term and it is a long season so we need to be able to work together so I am not going to come in there with an angry attitude. We just have to be very honest and realistic that it should’ve happened when they called it.”
What happened after they weren’t to pass –
Ricciardo: “Being fully transparent my side I think the call was already one lap too late and then he has reacted too late so when the soft tyre is like this every lap is crucial, so I think I already lost probably two-and-a-half good laps of the tyre and that was maybe the difference. Could we have caught Stroll in 10th? No. At best we may have got Zhou. So points were still tricky but we had to try something.”
Here’s what happened: https://x.com/F1/status/1764228220482990250?s=20
Here’s how F1 Bahrain GP panned out
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