An “angry” Daniel Ricciardo didn’t hold back after his RB Formula 1 team messed up his race strategy at the Hungarian Grand Prix. Ricciardo, who was running ahead of his teammate Yuki Tsunoda, saw his hopes for points slip away due to a series of questionable pit stops.
In the opening stint on medium tires, Ricciardo found himself stuck behind Alex Albon and Kevin Magnussen. As the Williams and Haas cars pitted early, RB brought Ricciardo in right after them, leaving him trapped in a DRS train.
Describing his frustration, Ricciardo said, “Two cars jumped us at the start with a soft tire. That’s fine. Let them go. They pit, and we follow them, to then just be on their strategy. They’ve just come in, we have a clear track, and we decide to pit behind them and put ourselves in a DRS train.”
His second pit stop on lap 28 – just one lap before Tsunoda’s first and only tire change – left Ricciardo lagging more than 20 seconds behind his teammate. He finished 12th, 25 seconds off Tsunoda, who secured points in ninth.
Ricciardo didn’t mince words about his disappointment. “It’s a late call, ‘box box box’ and you pit,” he recounted about the strategy snafu. “But honestly, as soon as I’m pulling in the pits, I’m questioning. You can’t [debate it so late].”
The driver’s frustration grew as he struggled to keep up with Lance Stroll. “Then, Stroll’s catching me a second a lap and maybe more,” Ricciardo explained. “And they’re saying, you know, it’s really important to keep him behind, and what do you want me to do? You’ve pitted me so early, I’m on older tires.”
Team principal Laurent Mekies admitted the mistake, acknowledging that the early pit stop in heavy traffic cost Ricciardo valuable points. “Unfortunately, we got it wrong with Daniel and pitted him too early in heavy traffic, which lost him a chance to fight for points,” Mekies stated. “We certainly share his frustration, and we will learn and come back stronger next week.”
Ricciardo remains 13th in the drivers’ championship with 11 points, half of Tsunoda’s total. The incident at the Hungarian GP highlights the critical importance of strategy in Formula 1 racing, where even a small error can drastically alter the outcome.
