Daniel Ricciardo BLASTS Formula One rival Lance Stroll after crash at Chinese Grand Prix leaves Australian star heartbroken: ‘There’s no excuse’

A heartbroken Daniel Ricciardo has claimed there is ‘no excuse’ for the accident that saw him retire from the Chinese Grand Prix.

The back of Ricciardo’s RB car was struck by Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll during the first safety car stint, causing significant damage to the Australian’s rear wing.

Ricciardo, 34, was on track to compete for a points finish, but instead had to retire as a result of the collision.

Stroll blamed Ricciardo for ‘brake checking’ him in the immediate aftermath of the incident, but the Australian is adamant that he was not at fault for what occurred in Shanghai.

Speaking to reporters after the race, Ricciardo hit out at his Canadian rival.

‘It’s a restart you know we don’t know what the leader is going to do, so you have to be as vigilant as ever and be prepared for any situation,’ he said.

‘I could see it was bunching up into the hairpin so obviously everyone is backing up, but then how hard he has hit me and basically put half his car under mine, it wasn’t small like a judgement error, he was miles off.

‘For that for me there’s obviously no excuse. I think for me what’s frustrating is I watched his onboard and he’s not even looking at me.

‘You can see his helmet and he’s looking at the apex of the corner so I don’t know why he’s not looking at the car in front … unless his eyes are doing something funny.

‘But it looked like he wasn’t looking at me and I think it shows with how hard he hit me that he was clearly focused on something else.’

Ricciardo could not hide away from the fact that he has endured another disappointing result, despite showing plenty of positive signs throughout the weekend.

‘I think that’s where right now it’s even more disappointing for us as a team, in the garage, I think everyone feels like it’s kind of another blow to the start of the season,’ he said.

‘But I think in 48 hours from now when this disappointment starts to fade, we’ll look back on a positive weekend.’

Ricciardo had been handed a lifeline by Christian Horner last year, with the 34-year-old joining Red Bull’s junior team AlphaTauri in the back end of the 2023 season. 

A wrist injury forced him out for the majority of his remaining races with Alpha, and his replacement, Liam Lawson, flourished in his absence.

Team bosses kept the faith in Ricciardo to drive in 2024, with AlphaTauri rebranded as RB, but his poor displays has led to speculation that Lawson could replace him on a full time basis.