Daniel Ricciardo under fire over ugly incident in Mexican Grand Prix
Daniel Ricciardo has produced one of his best drives of 2022 to finish seventh despite being handed a 10 second penalty for causing a crash at the Mexican Grand Prix.
Max Verstappen made history in Mexico having topped the podium and officially claimed the record for most wins in a Formula One campaign.
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The Red Bull driver moved ahead of Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel with his 14th win of an utterly dominant year.
Hamilton finished second in his Mercedes, with Verstappen's teammate Sergio Perez third in his home race.
And Ricciardo produced arguably his best race of the year after coming back from 13th position to storm into seventh with a brilliant drive.
"Welcome back, Daniel," Sky Sports' Martin Brundle said during broadcast.
"We missed you."
Ricciardo was voted the driver of the day.
"He's driven with fire in his belly, hunger and aggression," David Croft added in commentary.
Despite a brilliant charge, Ricciardo copped a 10 second penalty when he was involved in a scary moment with AlphaTauri driver Yuki Tsunoda.
On lap 51, Ricciardo attempted to overtake Tsunoda.
Tsunoda gets squeezed by Ricciardo and bounced out of the race 💥😮#MexicoGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/uw8xRTrLFk
— Formula 1 (@F1) October 30, 2022
However, he lost grip and slammed into his rival.
Tsunoda was forced off and retired from the Mexican GP.
"What the f**k is he doing," Tsunoda said after the collision.
After the race, Ricciardo said he felt disappointed at how the incident unfolded.
“I’m a little mixed about it. Of course you never want contact to a point where the other guy goes off. I just saw a replay… I don’t feel as bad about it now. Of course I wish it still didn’t happen," he said.
“I thought five (seconds) would have been okay... I’ll take a bit more responsibility but I can’t say it was 100 per cent my fault."
Spectators were mixed over the incident.
Ricciardo got two more for his collision with Tsunoda to move onto six, but taking 2023 out will wipe them anyway #F1 #MexicoGP
— Chris Medland (@ChrisMedlandF1) October 30, 2022
ricciardo really sent tsunoda into orbit and then drove a cracking race from that point on
— spooky jodie 🎃 (@formulawah) October 30, 2022
Yuki Tsunoda after seeing Daniel Ricciardo getting Driver of the Day pic.twitter.com/tY6CJRMJ5P
— Jack o'Lucy 🎃🏁 (@LastLapLucy) October 30, 2022
ricciardo took out tsunoda and suddenly remembered how to drive an f1 car
— Holly 🏁 (@lentaholly) October 30, 2022
Max Verstappen makes F1 history
Verstappen continued his remarkable year with Red Bull after surging to his 14th win in the campaign.
"Amazing, guys, what a fantastic race," said Dutchman Verstappen on the radio.
"Fourteen wins in a season. Unbelievable."
The 25-year-old Vertsappen started Sunday's race on pole, got off to a nice start and avoided initial pressure from the Mercedes duo of George Russell and Hamilton.
He then cruised to victory without issues, only losing his lead for a brief moment after he stopped for new tyres.
It was also a ninth win in a row and 16th from 20 races for Red Bull, who wrapped up the constructors' title in Texas last weekend with three rounds to spare.
Verstappen retained his drivers' title in Japan on October 9.
with AAP
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