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Daniel Ricciardo declared himself “thankful” to be leaving Interlagos with his life after almost being hit by a stray tyre at the start of the São Paulo Grand Prix.
Starting from 17th on the grid at Interlagos, Ricciardo had a clear view of the crash involving Williams’ Alex Albon and the Haas of Kevin Magnussen.
Off the line, Albon made a superb launch and was quickly alongside Nico Hulkenberg in his Haas, who had started directly ahead of the Thai-British driver.
Approaching Turn 1, the front-right wheel of Hulkenberg’s car made contact with the left-rear of the FW45, sending Albon into a spin, resulting in him colliding with the right-hand sidepod of the second Haas of Kevin Magnussen.
Like a pinball, Albon bounced off the VF-23 and impacted into the wall along the pit straight, coming to rest with a destroyed car, whilst Magnussen also retired further up the track due to severe damage to his Haas.
In the aftermath, the rear-left tyre of Albon’s car had detached itself from the wheel rim and proceeded to bounce along the track.
As he approached, Ricciardo has conceded to being forced to duck out of the way, with the tyre eventually hitting and dislodging the rear wing of his AlphaTauri.
Explaining how the incident unfolded from his perspective, Ricciardo said: “Obviously, I saw quite a big crash in front of me, lots of debris, and I felt like I was getting through it.
“Then I saw a tyre off the rim, kind of like frisbeeing through the air and it started getting closer. I remember ducking my head.
“I didn’t feel anything hit me, so I was happy, but then I checked my mirrors and I saw the rear wing was pretty much off, so I assumed the tyre had hit the wing, which was obviously frustrating.
“You look back at those things now, and it’s nice it didn’t hit me.”
Asked whether he was glad to be alive, Ricciardo replied: “It’s funny, but as soon as I realised it didn’t hit me, then I looked at the wing, and I was like, ‘Damn it!’
“So my immediate relief was turned into disappointment because I realised the race could be over.
“When you’re in that race mode you don’t even think about it, but now, with hindsight, I’m thankful we all got out of it safe.
“All these things can always be worse. I’ll leave certainly feeling a little bit thankful for that.
“I just wish they could have let us be in the race so that one hurts a bit.”
Ricciardo was forced to pit at the end of lap one, believing he would be unable to continue given the damage to the rear wing.
Soon after, the race was red-flagged, and although repairs were undertaken and he was allowed to race again, he restarted from the pit lane a lap down, going on to finish 13th of those who saw the chequered flag.
