Ricciardo shrugs off Tsunoda’s frustration after team orders swap

Daniel Ricciardo described Yuki Tsunoda’s post-race frustrations as “immaturity” after the RB teammates finished 13th and 14th respectively in Saturday’s season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix, after a team order to let Ricciardo past in the closing stages saw the Japanese driver express his annoyance on track and after the race.

Ricciardo, who was outqualified by Tsunoda and started 14th to his teammate’s 11th, had brand-new soft tyres for the final stint of the race and quickly caught a pack of cars led by Sauber’s Zhou Guanyu and the Haas of Kevin Magnussen, with Tsunoda unable to overtake the Danish driver.

On lap 50 of the 57-lap race, with Ricciardo closing fast, the RB pit wall instructed Tsunoda to cede position to Ricciardo, a call he initially disputed before moving aside one lap later. The Australian was unable to pass Magnussen over the remainder of the race, and Tsunoda swerved towards Ricciardo’s car on the cool-down lap as the pair returned to the pits.

“That was … I came on the radio, I was trying to stay cool,” Ricciardo said afterwards.

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“A bit of immaturity, let’s say that. I’m being very sensible right now, so let’s call it immaturity. He’s obviously frustrated with the team orders call but let’s be real, this is something we talk about before the race. It was very likely I was going to use the (new) soft (tyre) at the end of the race, so he knew there was a chance I’d have a pace advantage at the end. He’s not giving me points – we’re fighting for 13th.

“Whether I’m 13th or 14th … I don’t know if any driver cares about that, but I don’t. If the team had let him back by before the finish line, I would’ve done it because it means nothing to me. Unless we are in the points, who cares?”

While Ricciardo felt the team took too long to instruct Tsunoda to move aside, he didn’t feel the delay cost him – or the team – points in its first race since a name change from AlphaTauri last year.

“I think the call was already one lap too late and then (Tsunoda has) reacted too late,” he said.

“When the soft tyre is (new) every lap is crucial, I think I already lost probably two-and-a-half good laps of the tyre. Could we have caught (Aston Martin’s Lance) Stroll in 10th? No … at best we may have got Zhou. Points were still tricky, but we had to try something.”

Ricciardo, who was frustrated by his qualifying performance on Saturday, said the first two stints of his race were “pretty painful”, but felt the pace of the final stint bode well for next weekend’s second race of the season in Jeddah.

“We definitely could have had a better race, but I don’t think we’re there (challenging Aston Martin) yet, at least around this track,” he said.

“We’re not a top-five team yet. Let’s see next week, a completely different track and asphalt. We did come into the season knowing we had some development over the winter but, honestly, not enough. We’re not panicking, it is what it is for now.

“It’s the first race with a lot of new personnel in the team, but I’m excited to get back on track in a week and keep it rolling. I think we can be there or thereabouts in the points in the upcoming races.”

Daniel's Bahrain Grand Prix by the numbers

• Qualified: 14th
• Race: 13th
• Fastest lap: 1min 35.163secs (13th), lap 37
• Points this event: 0
• Points this season: 0 (13th in world championship)