TopGear spoke to Daniel Ricciardo at the unveiling of McLaren’s new F1 car for 2022. Of course we had to talk about the final race of 2021. Daniel Ricciardo sat on the front row at one of the most controversial F1 finals in history of sports. Ricciardo said straight from the car: ‘I’m glad I’m not part of that. Whatever happened, it seems fine ****** up.’
Ricciardo: “I think I said that at the time when I was still in the car, or probably just got out of the car in parc ferme. All I knew at the time was that Lewis had a relatively large lead. It looked like it was going to be finished and then with one lap to go there’s a restart.” He adds: ‘So I was like, ‘Is this really happening? This is disturbed.” I saw it on TV in 2008 with [Felipe] Massa and Lewis and thought “that will never happen again”.’
“In the last race I was just like, ‘Man, I feel sorry for Lewis. It’s not often that you put yourself in another driver’s shoes, especially when you’re on the track with them. But for whatever reason, I put myself in his shoes that night. Probably because I could see it all happening in front of me. And I was like, “I wouldn’t want to feel that right now. That’s a real heartbreaker.”’
The FIA discusses with drivers what improvements they want
The FIA is in talks with all drivers this week about what they would like to see in the future. Lando Norris tells TopGear that the teams and drivers want one thing above all else: consistency. He says, “If something is inconsistent, like that weekend, people get annoyed and frustrated,” he said. “You make decisions and the team makes decisions based on that consistency and rules. If something is shifted or changed, it will irritate many people.’
Michael Masi does not have to leave Ricciardo and Norris
It was obviously race leader Michael Masi who made the decision. Norris doesn’t think he should resign because people make mistakes: ‘If something happens in such a short time, then I guess so be it. I support Michael.’ Ricciardo agrees, arguing that too much interference from the teams “made it messier than it should have been”.
He continues: ‘I feel there is too much pressure on them [de stewards] is, to be honest. In general, the sport now has a lot more viewers, which is great in some cases, but it also puts pressure on others who probably aren’t asking for that pressure, or aren’t used to it.”
Normally it was about the drivers, not the race management
“It’s hard to look back in time and imagine when a race director or steward was in the media so much. It was quite unique and uncharted territory. It already felt a bit intense and I feel like everyone needs to take a step back.”
And certainly, on social media it rained (obviously) fierce criticism and even threats. Is Ricciardo concerned that people will drop out? “I think fans of the sport will still be fans of the sport,” he reasons, “and they are probably just as curious about what will happen in 2022.”
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