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Team orders were issued in the latter stages of the race, asking Tsunoda to move aside for Ricciardo, who held a tyre advantage in the run to the flag.
It generated an angry response from the Japanese driver, whose frustration boiled over both onto the radio and post-race when he came close to impacting Ricciardo on the cool-down lap.
That led to Ricciardo labelling his team-mate as “immature”, while Tsunoda claimed to have been unaware why the team asked him to move aside before acknowledging it was discussed pre-race.
“Drivers never like team orders,” Ricciardo began.
“So maybe a driver doesn’t react straight away. Like, I’ts not the first time that’s ever happened. So I think that was all pretty clear.
“It was important for us to talk about that, but then also the in-lap, just to be clear that, even if it’s heat of the moment, these things can have bigger consequences.
“So we talked, personally, privately, doors closed, very openly, transparently. We left Saturday night feeling like it’s done.”
The clash came as the two RB drivers both eye a move to Red Bull Racing for 2025.
It places them at odds not only with each other but, at times, with the team’s ambitions as they look to progress their own chances of replacing Sergio Perez.
The incident highlighted a key difference between the drivers, with Tsunoda fiery over the radio while Ricciardo was more controlled – even when surprised on the cool-down lap by Tsunoda divebombing him at Turn 8, and then nearly driving into the side of the Australian exiting the corner.
“And that’s why, obviously, I came on the radio and I was like, alright, what the hell’s going on here,” Ricciardo said.
“I said a few things, but I tried to also stop myself because I know everything gets broadcast – and I knew it was something we would discuss once the helmet’s off and maybe the heart rate comes down a little.”
Having joined RB mid-way through last season, when the squad was known as AlphaTauri, Ricciardo has some experience alongside Tsunoda.
But Bahrain marked the first time he’s seen the fiery side of the 23-year-old.
“Last year, we only had a few races, but I think it was all pretty smooth,” Ricciardo said.
“Obviously, there was that little thing on the weekend.
“If we didn’t address it and kind of stomped off and left the track and whatever, then okay, you’d say ‘alright, this is an issue’.
“I think we were both very willing to sit in a room together and just talk through it. I think that was important.”
Also important, according to the eight-time grand prix winner, is that the moment doesn’t spark a rivalry within the team.
RB finished 13th and 14th in Bahrain with Tsunoda qualifying best in 11th for Saturday night’s race.
The team, quite simply, is in a position where every point counts and maximising its potential to score them is, at least for the moment, the priority.
“I just honestly think, where I’m at in probably my career and probably just my age – okay, yeah, I still do some immature things and whatever, I’m still not fully an adult sometimes – but I think in those situations I very much understood that no one’s going to benefit from us having a rivalry or attention or anything like this from Race 1 of a long season,” Ricciardo reasoned.
“Especially when the team has new personnel. Everyone’s trying to pick each other up and kind of build themselves and the confidence. We need to help them do that as well.
“What happened at the end of the race, yes, it wasn’t great, but actually then two hours later, how we walked out of that meeting, I think actually put the team in a better place than it was even on Saturday morning.”
