Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsRed Bull Racing

Ricciardo shrugs off Raikkonen contact

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Daniel Ricciardo says his contact with Kimi Raikkonen was normal in order to make an overtaking move in the Monaco Grand Prix.

Running sixth behind Raikkonen following a late pit stop for supersoft tyres, Ricciardo tapped the left rear of the Ferrari heading in to Mirabeau, sending Raikkonen wide and allowing the Red Bull through. Raikkonen complained over the radio that the move was "not very nice" but the stewards cleared Ricciardo after an investigation and the Australian says it was good for the sport he wasn't penalised.

“It was a good race today and a good result for the team," Ricciardo said. "I had some fun in the last few laps trying to get close to [Lewis] Hamilton and [Sebastian] Vettel to fight for a podium position. I knew we were in a position to attack in the end which made it exciting I think. The team worked well, Dany [Kvyat] let me past to have a crack at the podium and I gave back the place on the last lap when I couldn’t get past Hamilton.

"I had a little incident with Kimi and it’s hard to get a clean move without a little contact in Monaco, I appreciate the stewards not taking any further action and I think the crowd and the fans enjoyed it. We’ll try and keep up the pace in the next few races to hopefully stay in the top five.”

With Kvyat eventually finishing fourth - one place ahead of Ricciardo - the Russian is delighted with his best ever F1 result.

“I am happy with today’s race, it was my best finish in Formula One and it was a great result for the team to finish fourth and fifth," Kvyat said. "I had a good start and was able to control my race from then on.

"We took a gamble with strategy allowing Daniel past after the last safety car to try and fight for a podium position, as he was on the faster Supersoft tyres. But as he was unable to pass anyone, as agreed, he gave the place back on the last lap. We hope we can carry this momentum onto the next races.”

Click here for a gallery of Max Verstappen's crash with Romain Grosjean during the Monaco Grand Prix

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.