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Stroll clattered into the rear of Ricciardo’s RB as the field bunched up at Turn 14 for a Safety Car restart on Lap 29
The Aston Martin driver was clearly caught out, the nose of his Aston Martin lifting the rear of Ricciardo’s car.
The chain reaction pushed the Australian into countryman Oscar Piastri ahead, the McLaren also sustaining damage as a result.
While Ricciardo carried on initially, substantial damage to his floor ultimately saw him pit and retire the car.
“It’s a restart, so we don’t know what the leader is going to do, so you have to be as vigilant as ever and just prepared for any situation,” Ricciardo told Sky Sports.
“I could see it was bunching up into the hairpin, so everyone’s backing up.
“But then, obviously, how hard he hit me pretty much put half his car under mine; it wasn’t a small lack of judgment. It was miles off.
“There’s honestly no excuse.”
Stroll picked up a 10-second penalty for the clash but remained in the race after a front-wing change and was ultimately classified 15th.
“The cars were all travelling slowly to set up for the restart of the race towards the end of a safety car period,” the stewards explained in their decision.
“The car in front of Car 18 slowed down to take the corner and also to try to match the pace of the group of cars in front of it. Car 18 then collided with
Car 3.
“We determined that Car 18 ought to have anticipated the pace of the cars in front particularly Car 3 and should have prepared to brake accordingly.
“Had it done that, it would have avoided the collision. Hence Car 18 was predominantly to blame for the collision that ultimately led to Car 3 having to retire from the race.”
What especially stuck in the craw for Ricciardo was that the incident was caused by Stroll’s apparent inattention.
“What’s frustrating is I watched his onboard and he’s not even looking at me,” the eight-time race winner noted.
“You can see his helmet; he’s looking at the apex.
“I don’t know why he’s not looking at the car in front, but unless his eyes are doing something funny…
“It looked like he wasn’t looking at me and I think it shows how hard he hit me, he was clearly focused on something else.”
Ricciardo’s early exit saw him join team-mate Yuki Tsunoda on the sidelines in a double-DNF for RB.
The Japanese driver was tagged by Kevin Magnussen at the same restart, pitching him into a spin and damaging the right-rear of his car in the process.
Magnussen picked up a 10-second penalty for the incident, the Haas dropping behind Stroll to 16th once his time penalty was applied post-race.
