Daniel Ricciardo says he was “just circulating” in the wake of getting caught up in the first-lap pile-up at Formula 1’s Belgian Grand Prix.
Ricciardo struggled for pace through much of the weekend and lined up only eighth after Red Bull misjudged its fuelling tactics during a rain-affected Q3 session.
Ricciardo’s rear wing was clipped by the airborne Fernando Alonso at the La Source hairpin and he was forced into the garage while repairs were undertaken.
Ricciardo re-joined two laps down and circulated at the rear of the field before ultimately pulling into the pits with a quarter of the race remaining.
“I don’t know exactly what happened at the start, but I felt a tap and to be honest I just remember sliding and the next minute I hit the back of Kimi [Raikkonen],” said Ricciardo.
“It was just a Turn 1 incident and apologies to Kimi if his retirement was down to me, but I’m pretty sure it all started behind me and was a chain reaction.
“My rear wing was pretty much ripped off and the mechanics tried to get me back out with a new wing before we went a lap down; we just missed that but they did all they could.
“We tried to stay out and hope for a Safety Car so we could get back on the lead lap, but we couldn’t just keep racing and hoping until the end, so we chose to retire with 14 laps remaining to save mileage on the engine and gearbox.
“After the rear wing change there was still some damage on my car as they had to fix it so quickly, we overtook quite a few cars but we weren’t really that fast and we were just circulating.
“Just one of those Sundays I guess. A lot of people would love my bad days, there you go, perspective.”
