Daniel Ricciardo, McLaren, Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, 2022

Ricciardo given two penalty points for “too late, too optimistic” move on Tsunoda

2022 Mexican Grand Prix

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Daniel Ricciardo was given two penalty points on his licence for his collision with Yuki Tsunoda during the Mexican Grand Prix.

The McLaren driver was trying to pass his rival on the inside of turn six when the pair made contact. Ricciardo’s left-front wheel hit the right-rear of Tsunoda’s car, briefly lifting the AlphaTauri into the air.

Tsunoda return to the pits where he retired with sidepod damage, fuming on the radio at his rival. “How he can think that overtake there?” he said. “I don’t know. Such a rookie guy.”

After considering video footage of the collision the stewards ruled he was entirely to blame for the clash. “The stewards considered that Ricciardo’s attempt to pass Tsunoda was both too late and too optimistic and find Ricciardo wholly at fault,” they noted.

They handed Ricciardo a 10-second time penalty and two penalty points on his licence. He now has a total of six, halfway towards a one-race ban. However Ricciardo has said he will not race in F1 next year meaning his licence will reset to zero before he makes any potential return.

Ricciardo finished the race in seventh place, 12 seconds ahead of Esteban Ocon, so the penalty made no difference to his finishing position.

This article will be updated

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2022 Mexican Grand Prix

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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18 comments on “Ricciardo given two penalty points for “too late, too optimistic” move on Tsunoda”

  1. Totally disagree. Tsunoda left the door open on the first part of the corner, ric got on his inside, and Tsunoda just closed the door. Car 3 left him maximum space to make the corner. If Tsunoda wanted to keep the corner he could have just parked in the middle part like Ocon did. Instead he made a half-defense and got the expected result.

    1. Ricciardo just dive-bombed Tsunoda. It was a silly place to try to overtake in the first place. That weird turn 6 is just too tight for proper wheel-to-wheel action; I’ve never seen anyone successfully overtake there. Ricciardo should have waited for the main straight, where he would eventually pass the others as well. In the end, his time penalty didn’t affect his final result, which is both funny and sad at the same time.

    2. An open door is not an invitation for a reckless overtake. Tsunoda was already at the apex

  2. Luckily, unlike guys like PG who constantly close the door when it’s too late and make other highly questionable decisions, DR has zero problems with points on his license. Either way, being out of a drive, it won’t matter.

  3. Ha, Dan finally screws together a decent race, and this is the story. Joke.

  4. Ricciardo chose the wrong corner to make that move. It was that double hairpin corner, where the car cut in immediately a second time. Naturally, the car with the racing line was going to clip the car forcing its way on the inside. He had DRS and good pace, he only had to be patient.

  5. I guess rules are rules so I obviously have to concede that the penalties were appropriate, but I could not help but think as the situation played out live, this is the type of racing that I like to see.

    There is a difference between this wheel to wheel type of opportunism, to lunges from a distance back where the aggressor is often gambling on even making the corner. In the former situation I feel the defending driver is in a position to avoid the accident, and yes, that may mean they lose the position. I would prefer if only the latter type of situation were penalised.

    Of course I understand that none of these things are entirely clear cut, and though I am not going to try to cover the variables I will still additionally highlight that in this particular case, it was not as though DR was forcing YT off track either. Just forcing him off the racing line.

  6. Probably fair enough but Tsunoda really did leave a gap. Id need to overlay his laps though to see if he changed his line at all. I’m guessing not, hence the penalty.

  7. I think this is a situation where Ricciardo is at fault because the gap was probably not enough, but Tsunoda could have avoided it easily.

    1. Almost like ocons crash into Yuki at Paul ricard, over optimistic and reckless

  8. I see this s 70/30 Ricciardo’s fault .

    Didn’t deserve 10 seconds not by a long shot. If you look at where the damage was on Tsunoda’s side pod, Dan nearly got half way alongside

  9. I have a big issue with the way these incidents are policed. As they are now, sure, Ricciardo was in the wrong, but why is it considered ok for a driver to turn across another as if he isn’t there when clearly he is?
    Tsunodo is “in the right” in this situation, but he’s also out of the race. Had he left space he might have lost his position but could still have finished, it seems self defeating to race cars this way.
    It seems to me that if you have to leave a space if there is any overlap the racing would be better, the rules as they are almost force Tsunoda to turn in like he did because if he didn’t and Ricciadro did back out as he was supposed to he would loose lots of time.
    Yes Ricciardo is a fault as the rules stand, but I think the rules are more at fault than he is.

  10. Flattered by having fresh tyres on an odd strategy, he still showed the reason he is departing.

  11. Clumsy attempt at best.

  12. Clumsy and too opportunistic from Ricciardo. The was never on and you’d expect more from an experienced driver. Maybe the sense he needed to make his moves in a hurry while the tire was still lasting made him rush it…

    While not at fault, it is also about not being in such a situation… Tsunoda could have done better. Just look at Ocon through that section a few times. He would have done enough with the placement of his car to not let the overtaker make this mistake

    1. + “move” somewhere..
      My kingdom for an edit button

  13. He was lucky to get only the 2 points and be able to drive out a gap not to lose his position. He did do some great racing in that climb through the field – almost felt like the Ricciardo that was seen as a super talent – but then that clumsy, move on Tsunoda really showed a driver maybe trying too hard.

    1. Would you really blame a driver who’s had the year that Ric has had for trying a bit too hard… I feel like there were a lot of people having a crack at him last week for giving up.

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