Formula 1

Grosjean lays blame on Ricciardo for first lap chaos

1 Mins read

As races go, the British Grand Prix was over in a flash for the Lotus F1 Team, with both Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado retiring on the opening lap at Silverstone after being involved in the chaos at turn three.

Infiniti Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo was the instigator of the incident, running into the side of Grosjean, who in turn was pushed into Maldonado, resulting in both Enstone drivers retiring their E23 Hybrid’s, with Grosjean in particular unhappy with how the race ended so abruptly.

“That was a very short race for the team and I feel for everyone here at Silverstone and at Enstone,” revealed Grosjean.

“Daniel must have thought his brakes and tyres would be able to slow him better than they did and the result was the end of both my and Pastor’s race.

“No-one likes to end a Grand Prix like that as so much effort goes into making and preparing the cars. I know we have many fans who want to see us race so I feel for them too.

“Budapest is next, and we’ve gone well there in the past. I’m pumped-up to fight for every single point available.”

Team-mate Maldonado was hopeful of being able to continue but found the damage to his car to be too great, and like his team-mate is focused on returning to the points in Hungary in three weeks time.

“At first I thought I had a puncture and would be able to return to the pits and re-join the race but unfortunately the damage to the car was more serious than that and I had to retire,” said Maldonado.

“There is nothing you can do in situations like these as it’s all part of racing. Now my focus is on the next race where we’ll be trying our very best as always.”

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