Daniel Ricciardo remains critical of the way Kevin Magnussen defended his position during the Hungarian Grand Prix, with the Renault F1 Team racer believing the Haas F1 Team driver deserved more than just a warning from the FIA stewards at the Hungaroring.
The two were fighting for what ultimately turned out to be thirteenth position, with the Dane remaining ahead of the Australian despite some robust defensive manoeuvres into turn one, with Ricciardo declaring that the movements Magnussen was making under braking was unappreciated.
“I let the first two go, I didn’t come on the radio,” said Ricciardo to Motorsport.com. “I don’t want to be the guy that literally comes on the radio straight away, I thought I’d let him be aggressive for a bit.
“But then there were a couple where he was moving. I was committing to the inside, and then he was braking and squeezing as much as he could, and then I was I’ve got to say something. For me it was definitely moving under braking, which is the one thing we don’t really appreciate.
“I was going to [talk to Magnussen], and I was advised just to take a few deep breaths, and let it go. It’s alright, it’s racing, but for sure what we drivers agree on and speak with the stewards about, he definitely moved under braking more than twice. I heard he got a warning, but a warning is not enough.”
Ricciardo, who had started the race from the back of the grid following a disappointing Qualifying performance and an unscheduled engine change, admitted he had hoped to climb higher up the order than he ultimately did in Hungary, but it is up to him and Renault to ensure they are Q3 contenders rather than finding themselves out in Q1.
“I hoped for something awesome to happen, but I knew it was going to be a bit frustrating,” said the Australian. “I think there were moments of some good times, so it wasn’t a complete disaster.
“I was a bit frustrated with Kevin at times, but to be honest when you start at the back that’s what you’re going to get. As opposed to be being frustrated at Kevin, we’ve just got to focus on ourselves. If we qualify Q3 where we should be, then we’ll probably have less of these issues.”
