Daniel Ricciardo has admitted fault for his significant crash in Practice 2 at the Styrian Grand Prix.
Ricciardo lost the rear of his Renault at the Red Bull Ring’s Jochen Rindt Kurve (Turn 9) on his first flying lap of the session and backed into the barriers at high speed.
With no evidence of a mechanical problem, the West Australian conceded that he was to blame, although he suspects that a gust of wind had helped unsettle the R.S.20.
“I was trying to understand what went wrong,” said Ricciardo.
“It is one of those that goes so quickly, but yeah, just one of those ones.
“I turned in and just as I turned, there has been a bit of a tailwind we saw that maybe helped me a little bit with losing the rear.
“Nothing with the car broke so it was obviously just on me. But yeah, fortunately I don’t do those things too often but today I did, so, sorry guys.
“I had, this morning, a bit of sliding there on the exit but on the entry it was pretty good. It’s normally pretty nailed on the entry there, you might fight it afterwards.
“It was my first lap, the tyres were there, a little bit of wind and just coming in with probably a little too much speed for the conditions.
“It’s all good, we’ll be good for tomorrow, I know the boys will have a little bit of work for tonight.”
The Renault F1 Team’s Chief Engineer, Ciaron Pilbeam, has declared that “The car will be ready to run again by tomorrow (Saturday),” as will Ricciardo.
Although the 31-year-old walked with a limp to the waiting Medical Car and also back through the paddock, he was declared fit and explained that he had merely banged his knee on the steering column.
“I hit my knee on the steering column when I came in, so just a bit bruised,” reported Ricciardo.
“But they checked it, (and it is) literally just some bruising. All is good. I am fine but the car was pretty beat up.”
There is, nevertheless, uncertainty as to whether Ricciardo or any other driver will get onto the circuit on the Saturday given forecasts of thunderstorms.
If Qualifying cannot be run, he will start Sunday’s race from the back given that the grid will revert to Practice 2 times, and team-mate Esteban Ocon would line up 10th.
Practice 3 is scheduled for 20:00 local time/AEST, and Qualifying from 23:00.
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