Ricciardo gets apology for major error after Hungarian GP infuriation

Daniel Ricciardo has been given a belated apology from Visa Cash App RB after a poor strategy saw him slip out of the points in Hungary.

The 35-year-old lined up in ninth in Budapest, one place above team-mate Yuki Tsunoda, whose Q3 ended with a smash into the barrier at Turn 5.

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But whereas the Japanese made up a place to finish ninth in the race, Ricciardo slipped back to 12th, losing further ground in the standings to his team-mate.

The result comes at an inopportune time for Ricciardo as the Australian fights for his F1 future and possibly a Red Bull seat.

Why was Daniel Ricciardo unhappy with his team?

After the race, Ricciardo blasted the strategy his team put him on for causing him to miss out on points. He was boxed on lap seven and re-emerged in heavy traffic.

“I’m really trying to bite my tongue, but. You must know how I feel about the first stop,” the Visa Cash App RB driver bemoaned over team radio as he pulled into parc fermé. “OK, understood,” his race engineer Pierre Hamelin replied.

“If you feel the same, please…” rebutted Ricciardo, searching for an apology which never came, the team instead vowing to review things.

This did little to placate the eight-time race winner, who described the grand prix as "one of the worst ones I've had in 250 races".

On the strategy, Ricciardo said: "You don't want to pull into the pits. You get the call and you know this isn't the thing to do. We come out in traffic, and it's a DRS train, and for what?

"We did a race today but we didn't do a race, if you know what I mean. We had the pace, and we basically gave Yuki the race that we had in front of us, and we both could have done that. And we didn’t.”

"Honestly, I was expecting more," he added of the team's response to his disappointment. "On the in-lap I was waiting for 'Sorry, we f***** up', and I didn't get it. That made me even more angry."

“Stroll’s catching me a second a lap and maybe more, and they’re saying, you know, it’s really important to keep him behind. What do you want me to do? You’ve pitted me so early, I’m on older tires.... There were times where it just felt like the bed was made,” he concluded.

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Ricciardo has now received an apology from the team, presumably after the post-race debriefs and reviews were completed, though it may mean little to the driver now.

Team principal Laurent Mekies conceded that the early pit stop was a mistake. "Unfortunately, we got it wrong with Daniel and pitted him too early in heavy traffic, which lost him a chance to fight for points," he said.

"We certainly share his frustration, and we will learn and come back stronger next week."

"Some cars started to pit early, and we reacted with Daniel, which put him in heavy traffic and did not allow him to use his pace.

"Anticipating his second stop allowed us to gain a few positions back and Daniel could show good lap times, but it wasn't enough to end up in the points for him and he finished P12," added head of vehicle performance Guillaume Dezoteux.

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