Ricciardo "hated every second" of Sainz apology

McLaren

Ricciardo "hated every second" of Sainz apology

Ricciardo apologised to Sainz after causing his Imola race to end on lap one

Sam Hall

Wednesday 4 May 2022 12:44 Updated: 13:53

Daniel Ricciardo has joked that he "hated every second" of his apology to Carlos Sainz at Imola but conceded not every driver would make the same gesture.

Sainz was forced to retire from the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix on the first lap after contact with Ricciardo pitched the Spaniard into a spin and left him beached in the gravel.

Although Ricciardo was able to continue, no penalty was issued with Valtteri Bottas having also made contact with the McLaren driver in the early melee.

Asked about the gesture on The Daily Show, Ricciardo joked: "I hated every second of the apology.

"I think, probably just with the experience and having been in it for so long, I have the maturity to know now how much we all put into it and as competitive as we are, we all have something strongly in common.

"There are only 20 of us in the world that do it so you just respect everyone's journey.

"The incident, if I hold myself accountable for something then I feel like I want to just apologise and it's nothing personal."

Ricciardo claims 'not every driver' would apologise

After receiving Ricciardo's apology, Sainz commented that the gesture said a lot about the Australian "as a sportsman".

"I don't think everyone would do it," conceded Ricciardo.

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"But, for me, I just felt better by doing it so we have a clean slate for the next one and I know that when we come alongside each other on track next, there is no intensity.

"There will be an intensity but nothing heightened I guess."