Red Bull’s hopes of scoring points at the Shanghai race were shattered in just a few dramatic moments on Sunday. Ricciardo got hit from behind by Lance Stroll while the safety car was out, and Tsunoda crashed with Kevin Magnussen when the race restarted.
Neither of the Red Bull drivers could finish the race. Team principal Laurent Mekies thought both incidents could have been avoided by the other drivers. Those drivers got penalties for their roles in the crashes.
Mekies said, “I think both incidents looked unnecessary. It wasn’t like it was inevitable that there would be a crash. They were quite unnecessary. I hope they were just one-time mistakes in the midst of a tough battle.”
Mekies felt the crashes cost Red Bull a chance to earn more points, especially because Ricciardo was having his best weekend of the season so far. He said, “It’s a big missed opportunity. Both our cars got taken out by competitors in one lap. We were fighting for that one point with the usual contenders, and it would have been a good battle.”
Ricciardo was attacking Lewis Hamilton just before the safety car came out. Mekies believed they had a good chance to fight for points. He said, “We had the right pace and the right tires. We could have battled Nico Hulkenberg for that position. But things didn’t go our way. That’s racing.”
Despite the disappointment, Mekies was happy with Ricciardo’s performance. He said, “It’s good to see Daniel performing at this level. He’s been improving a lot.”
After the race, Ricciardo criticized Stroll for hitting him. Tsunoda also expressed frustration with Magnussen for causing his crash. Tsunoda said, “I’m really frustrated. I gave him a lot of space, but it still ended in a crash. It’s very annoying.”
