Sainz: Ricciardo apology at Imola says 'much about Daniel'

Carlos Sainz praised Daniel Ricciardo for not only owning up to his mistake in the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix but also for apologizing to him for their first lap run in at Imola.

Sainz outran Ricciardo into Tamburello shortly after the start, but on his entry into the chicane the McLaren driver clipped the inside kerb and then drifted into the side of the Ferrari, punting Sainz into the gravel trap, the Spaniard's race grounding to a painful halt.

Ricciardo was able to continue but the Aussie spent the remainder of his afternoon at the tail end of the field. After the race, the McLaren driver's first order of business was to apologize to Sainz.

"It says much about Daniel as an athlete and as a sportsman that immediately after a race, where you could see he's had a tough one, the first thing that he did was come in to the Ferrari box and apologise to me.

"There were the whole mechanics there with me and we all thanked him for the gesture. So that's why there's no hard feelings with Daniel's because of what happened.

"It could happen to anyone out there today. But unfortunately, it had to happen to me, when I'm coming from the crash in Melbourne.

"So yeah, it's how it is. The incident has really no mystery to it. I think if you see the onboard and what happened, it is very clear to everyone."

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Unlike in Melbourne, Sainz was eliminated through no fault of his own at Imola, but the Spaniard nevertheless rued his second first lap exit in succession as it deprived him once again of important mileage onboard Ferrari's new generation car.

"They are two completely different incidents with very similar outcomes, which means you end up not doing any of the 60 laps of the race," he said. "At the moment for me, it would be very useful.

"So actually, the result doesn't even hurt that much. If you compare it to what it is now, losing so much track time, and losing so many laps in this car in the last two races where I haven't been able to race, it is unfortunate.

"The tough thing is that they come in a consecutive manner because, over the season, there's always going to be one race where you do a mistake and there's always going to be one race where you get bumped out.

"For me, unfortunately, it has happened consecutively. And it's why it hurts more and it's tougher. But hopefully we get them done nice and early in the season and now we can start focusing on the rest of the year."

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