Daniel Ricciardo feels both frustrated and comforted by the FIA admitting it had perhaps made the wrong call on the incident that involved the Aussie and Lance Stroll in the Styrian Grand Prix.
Ricciardo and Stroll clashed in the closing stages of last weekend's race when the Racing Point driver lunged up the inside of the Renault driver at the Red Bull Ring's Turn 4.
Stroll ran wide on the exit and took both cars completely off the track, but the move still allowed the Canadian to gain a position to the detriment of his rival.
The maneuver was reviewed by the stewards and eventually deemed a racing incident, a post-race decision that Ricciardo felt was very unfair when it was announced on Sunday evening.
The matter was revisited in Friday's drivers' briefing, and FIA race director Michael Masi admitted that in hindsight, the stewards had probably made the wrong call.
"I think after the facts, they accepted that they would have done something different," Ricciardo commented.
"But once Sunday night passes and Monday rolls over, the results are fixed. And you can't go back and switch positions or anything. So obviously a bit frustrated.
"There is a little bit of comfort knowing that that wouldn't stick, moving forward. So, I guess we can take that.
"But I just felt like at the time, it should have been more clear and more obvious. And some of the conversation was also around me going off the track. But obviously, it wasn't my choice.
"I didn't drive off there for good fun. And we discussed it. They basically admitted they would do it differently next time."
Last weekend, many compared the run-in between Stroll and Ricciardo to the move made at the same corner last year by Max Verstappen on Charles Leclerc, and which earned the Dutchman his Austrian Grand Prix win at the time.
But Ricciardo said the stewards conceded that last Sunday's incident was not the same as Verstappen's bold race-winning move.
"It doesn’t help me now, or a few days ago, but I think that they are aware that there’s a difference between that incident and the Leclerc/Verstappen incident last year, and that’s that’s the big one, it’s the same corner," Ricciardo said.
"And it’s still a very different outcome of the incident.
"So I think they’re aligned with that now, it’s not the same. At first, I think they did feel it was the same, which is why the initial penalty wasn’t given."
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