Carlos Sainz was clearly angry with Daniel Ricciardo after the McLaren driver ended his Emilia Romagna Grand Prix early by pushing him into the gravel trap on the very first corner. Sainz was in a good position to challenge for a podium at the least after starting the race in fourth.
With Charles Leclerc stealing the limelight at Ferrari for the start of the season, Sainz has been under some pressure to close the gap to his team-mate. But the Spaniard got off to a slow start after lights out with Lando Norris quickly getting past him down into the first corner.
And he was quickly on the defensive with Ricciardo coming on the outside with all drivers desperately trying to avoid each other. Sainz was slightly ahead of Ricciardo and had track position coming into Tamburello, but disaster struck with the McLaren pushing into the Ferrari with both cars going into the gravel trap.
Ricciardo was able to keep his wheels going and rejoin the back of the pack, but Sainz was beached and unable to get going again. There was collective groans on team radio before Sainz said angrily: “Ricciardo hit me.”
But Ricciardo made it clear that he wasn’t at fault having felt contact from behind. He said on team radio: “I got pushed into Sainz.” It appeared as though Valtteri Bottas was involved in the incident and had some front wing damage.
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Nico Rosberg didn’t see much in it between Sainz and Ricciardo, calling it a “racing incident”. He said: “It’s okay. Nevertheless I did see Daniel do a little bit of a snap mid-corner, so pushing a little bit too much and it was him who drifted towards Carlos.
“I would see the fault a little bit more on Daniel, but it’s okay to put it down as a racing incident. Let’s see if Valtteri Bottas’ wing has survived?”