Shop
Ricciardo was eliminated from the race in Shanghai when Stroll ran into the back of his RB under Safety Car conditions.
The impact lifted the rear of the Australian’s car, leaving it with terminal damage, while Stroll was forced to pit for a new front wing.
Oscar Piastri was also caught up in the incident as Ricciardo was pushed into the back of the McLaren, damaging its diffuser.
Following the race, Stroll was unapologetic about the smash and bemoaned the 10-second penalty stewards handed him for it.
“No, because I feel it’s not going to go anywhere,” Ricciardo admitted when asked if he wanted to speak with the Canadian about the incident.
“If he just takes it saying ‘yeah look, my bad’ or whatever, I can accept an apology. I’m not that much of an arsehole.
“But the fact that there’s not even that… He clearly doesn’t think he did anything wrong, so I guess there’s not much to say.”
Though disinterested in discussing China, Ricciardo stopped short of suggesting he’d blank Stroll.
“If we sit next to each other tomorrow in drivers’ briefing and he wants to chat, I’m not going to ignore him or anything,” he noted.
“It’s just at least… Look, when I was younger, yeah, maybe I was more stubborn, and maybe I didn’t always apologise for something that was my fault—or I was just like ‘stuff them’.
“But certainly the last few years, if I make a mistake or take someone out, or even if it’s like 50-50, I’ll still say ‘look, maybe I could have done better, so sorry for ruining our day.’
“We’re all rivals but you don’t want to have a target, I guess, and you don’t need enemies.
“I’m not going as far as saying he’s an enemy or anything,” he added.
“It’s an incident and we’ll move on but just more that you don’t want to get what you’re given.
“And again, I’m not directing this at him, but it’s my approach.
“If I’ve got on track stuff with someone then yeah, alright, let’s run it out and see what happens.”
With the disappointment of China behind him, Ricciardo is looking forward to building on what had been, up to being torpedoed by Stroll, a promising weekend.
“Obviously, I was super frustrated – any DNF is frustrating, but that one was even more frustrating,” he admitted.
“When you don’t see the chequered flag, you just want to race again; you just want to get back in the car.
“For that, I’m actually really happy it’s a Sprint weekend because it’s two races.”
Track action in Miami begins with a single hour of practice on Friday (local time, 02:30 Saturday AEST) ahead of Sprint Qualifying at 06:30 AEST Saturday morning.
