“Hated Every Second…”: Daniel Ricciardo Rationalizes Apologizing to Sainz After Imola GP Gaffe

Formula One is visiting Miami to host a Grand Prix for the first time next week. To promote the race in the country, McLaren driver Daniel Ricciardo once again made an appearance on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah.

He had previously visited the show in 2019 to promote Drive To Survive. He once again brought his effervescent and charming personality to the show and entertained everyone with his answers.

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Interestingly, he also spoke about the recent crash with Carlos Sainz in Imola and why he apologized to the Spanish driver. The Aussie driver was involved in a first-lap incident with Carlos at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix last week.

Daniel Ricciardo comments on his apology to Carlos Sainz after Imola

While racing in the wet conditions, he slightly touched Sainz’s car and went into him. The incident ruined both drivers’ races, but it was Carlos who went out of the race while Daniel continued at the back the entire time.

“I hated every second of the apology. Yeah again, I think probably just with experience and just being in it for so long. I know I have the maturity to now know how much we all put into it. As competitive as we are, we all have something strongly in common and there’s only 20 of us in the world that do it,” said the McLaren driver.

“You kind of just respect everyone’s journey. So like the incident, if I hold myself accountable for something, then I feel like I wanna apologize and it’s nothing personal.”

“I don’t think everyone would do it, but for me, I just felt better by doing it. So we kinda just have a clean slate for the next one. And I know that when we come alongside each other on track next, there’ll be an intensity but nothing heightened I guess,” said Ricciardo.

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It was indeed a very classy gesture from the Aussie driver. But his explanation for why he apologized may even be better than his actual apology and reflects his good intentions. Daniel is a very fair racer on the track and rarely causes any incidents while racing. So it was odd to see him crashing into Sainz.