Daniel Ricciardo has admitted a sense of panic ultimately ended his Azerbaijan Grand Prix after a mistake while battling with Daniil Kvyat.
Ricciardo had attempted to put a move on Kvyat as the pair braked into the Turn 3 left hander on Lap 31.
With his front brakes locked, the Australian skated beyond the corner and into the escape road, where he immediately engaged reverse and drove into Kvyat’s Toro Rosso.
“I obviously don’t feel good about what just happened,” Ricciardo said.
“We had started to pick up the pace and obviously closed in on Dani. I saw a gap so I thought I’ll have a go.
“It’s always tight into (Turn) 3 but I had, initially I had let’s say the commitment I thought I’d pull it off.
“Then I felt I was going to start to lock and miss the corner so then at that point to be honest as soon as I went down the escape road.”
Unaware that Kvyat, who had stopped behind him, Ricciardo drove into the stationary Toro Rosso.
The resulting damage from the incident ruled them both out of the race, Kvyat with substantial damage to the floor of his car.
“It was just a sense of urgency and a bit of panic, if you will, and just trying to minimise damage and lose as little time as possible,” Ricciardo added.
“I found reverse and started going and to be honest I had no idea he was there.
“I guess the urgency stopped me from looking and when I went long, to be honest, I just thought he would have cut back and stayed on track.
“Kind of crappy on my part, (I) certainly feel bad for the team, and for Dani.”
The incident and resulting retirement marks Ricciardo’s third DNF in four starts since joining Renault at the start of the year.
It also ended a race that promised a potential points paying result, a welcome bonus on a weekend when the team has struggled.
“All weekend we haven’t really been on it and that’s why getting into the points I think would have been a fairly good recovery for us,” Ricciardo reasoned.
“That’s why I’m obviously gutted not to pull that off.
“If we’d finished the race we would have been quite upbeat about it.
“I feel pretty small at the moment. I know I’ll figure it out. I’ll figure it out. It’s just a silly mistake but just a bit of panic.”
While Ricciardo retired, team-mate Nico Hulkenberg was classified 14th and therefore ended the race empty handed.
It leaves Renault on 12 points and languishing seventh in the constructors’ championship, a competition headed by Mercedes with 173 points.
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