Ricciardo told Grosjean “you’re an idiot” after crash

2013 Monaco Grand Prix

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Daniel Ricciardo left Romain Grosjean in no doubt what he thought of their collision in the Monaco Grand Prix.

Grosjean ran into the back of Ricciardo’s car on the approach to the chicane on lap 64, eliminating both from the race.

“Sometimes when things like this happen, you want to blow off steam but by that point I really couldn’t be bothered shouting and screaming at Grosjean,” Ricciardo told Toro Rosso’s website.

“It was a disappointing end to a deeply unsatisfying weekend and I didn’t want to waste the energy yelling ‘screw you, what the hell were you thinking?’ I just said ‘you’re an idiot’, and that was it.”

Grosjean was handed a ten-place grid penalty for the Canadian Grand Prix following the incident. Ricciardo described the stewards’ investigation as an open-and-shut case:

“I’m not surprised Romain picked up a penalty: we were in the stewards’ office together and, to be honest, I didn’t need to say much. They had the data and once I saw the video, it was pretty much what I thought it had been.

“Tom Kristensen was there [as a driver steward] and he’s experienced enough to understand that type of collision.”

Immediately after the crash Ricciardo told his race engineer: “You can probably guess the driver. Looks like he probably misjudged it, went over the top of me.”

It wasn’t the only run-in the pair had during the race weekend. Grosjean accused Ricciardo of holding him up during Q2 and preventing him from reaching the top ten shoot-out. “But it certainly wasn’t my intention to end my race in the back of his car,” the Lotus driver added.

“Daniel seemed to be really struggling with his rear tyres and they looked to have a lot of graining. I’d been following him for almost all of the 61 laps but I was caught out by him braking early in the middle of the circuit and there was nowhere for me to go.”

“It’s a frustrating end to the weekend, but the real damage was done in qualifying when I didn’t get through to Q3.”

Ricciardo isn’t the first F1 driver to lambast Grosjean in this way. Last year Mark Webber dubbed him a “first-lap nutcase” after a collision in the Japanese Grand Prix.

2013 Monaco Grand Prix

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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89 comments on “Ricciardo told Grosjean “you’re an idiot” after crash”

  1. Happens a lot when driver behind expect driver in front to take evasive action.

  2. Not much to say other than, I agree with RIC

  3. Have to agree with him… But I think the bigger idiots are Lotus for keeping him on!

    1. @brawngp

      Kimi thinks the “idiot” is driving a McLaren…

      1. @jcost Made me lol :D

  4. ‘I’m not gonna say you totally su€k’ let’s you actually say it.

  5. I wonder if Grosjean’s next victim will be quite as controlled as Ricciardo was.

    1. I’m still waiting for the day he crashes into Kimi

      1. I predict a repeat of the Piquet-Salazar incident.

      2. I think Grosjean is secretly a Red Bull Driver Assassin.

        1. Actually thats funny

        2. Lucas Wilson (@full-throttle-f1)
          30th May 2013, 12:52

          @aish,

          yeah I never see him crashing into Red Bull lol

          1. @full-throttle-f1

            Webber, I guess in Brazil.

          2. He ran into Webber multiple times bro, in 2012. He may also be an “Australian Red Bull Driver Assassin.”

          3. Oh btw, I forgot the first lap nutcase story altogether

      3. Probably the race where Kimi is about to break Schumacher’s record consecutive points finish streak. That would be awful.

        1. Well Perez almost did ruin his run of consecutive points finishes last weekend. Thankfully Kimi did a great job to at least score a point

        2. He already prevented Alonso from matching Schumi’s record of consecutive point finishes last year :) Kimi be carefull…

  6. how quickly people forget all the other races this year.
    Ricciardo could only dream of having Grosjeans talent

    1. Because the Torro Rosso is such a competitive piece of kit compared with the Lotus… Truth is, you don’t know if GRO is better than RIC

      1. Well, by that logic, the Ferrari is more competitive than the Sauber, but no-one would doubt that Alonso is better than Gutierrez. But in this case, yeah, Grosjean isn’t doing a good enough job with what he’s been given to establish that he is better than someone in the lower midfield.

        1. @david-a I’m nitpicking now, but that analogy is flawed since Alonso (Ricciardo) is a better driver than his team mate and Gutierrez (Grosjean) isn’t. The correct analogy would be whether Massa is better than Hülkenberg, which is in fact an interesting question :P

    2. You could have all the talent in the world and be one and a half seconds quicker than anyone else… But if you make a habit of expecting people to bow down and give you a place, or are simply too naive to consider all the race track when turning a corner, then all that talent is really worth nothing.

      Also, I for one have been subtly impressed with Ricciardo’s performances. Of course he’s not going to get a podium, but that’s because he’s not in a car that’s won races, led the championship and is still in the title hunt.

    3. Excuse me Rambler, before you just ramble on here, apt name too, Ric is much better on all counts. Grosjean is a quick in one lap but he doesn’t have the skill of Ric or even Perez, Sutil, Vergne, Di Resta etc. He is probably the worst of the new guys. Even Chilton is better than Grosjean.

      1. Grosjean is actually an awesome driver; i reckon he is faster than Kimi, but Kimi is more consistent.
        grosjean has won every championship he’s ever contested (with the exception of F1)
        Not even Vettel has done that

    4. Put them in the same car and you can say that, I root for Grosjean but Ricciardo is keeping the car on the track.

    5. You’re kidding right? I can’t even recall the last time Ricciardo had really put a single foot wrong. He’s kept his nose clean for the entire 2 years he’s been racing and more importantly he’s been quick: out qualifying and out racing Vergne with only a few exceptions.
      How many times did Grosjean crash in the SINGLE weekend??
      Enough said.

      1. Not enough.

        I have nothing against RIC, but to your points comparing him to JEV:
        Combined 2012-2013 races where both were classified (17 total by my count), JEV finished ahead 8 times, and RIC ahead 9 times. Hardly the “out racing Vergne with only a few exceptions” you state. JEV finished ahead on points last season (16-10) and they are basically even this year (JEV 5 to RIC 7). And JEV had four 8th place finishes last year to RIC’s four 9th and two 10th.

        I have no real interest in either driver, just the stats.

        1. @hobo

          Stats however can tell you anything you want them to.

          1. @mike – I can’t tell if you’re just being flip or a troll or if you actually believe what you say. I’ll pretend it is the last one.

            Though I understand what you implied, your statement is an exaggeration in the most generous reading of it as stats cannot tell you whatever you want. They can be skewed. But even if you are skeptical of statistical manipulation, the data is readily available for you to see for yourself so you needn’t rely on a middleman.

            To the actual points made, the only way my interpretation of the available data could be inaccurate, would be if all of RIC’s finishes were based on skill and a majority of JEV’s finishes were due to flukes that somehow promoted him and demoted RIC so that the head to head data was skewed. I do not believe that is the case.

            The methodology I’ve employed is about as transparent and simplistic as you’ll ever see and while it is possible that there are statistical biases (though doubtful in this case) there is no personal bias as I have no interest in either driver. Feel free to continue distrusting all statistics if you want, but your life will be far less interesting for it.

  7. The funny thing is that, if this was Hamilton or Vettel calling Grosjean idiot people will be up in arms.

    1. I think the majority of people would be okay if anyone (bar possibly MAL, but that’s another story) called Grosjean an idiot.
      I mean, you cannot deny his record.

    2. I don’t think so…I am not a particular Hamilton or Vettel – fan, but they are far more experienced than Ricciardo. So a rational person would have to say it’s justified to call Crashjean an idiot in a similar situation!

    3. I swear that literally every single article on F1fanatic has at least one comment of “if this was Hamilton”…

      1. :-) pretty much yeah, same for the other guy.

        1. OmarR-Pepper (@)
          30th May 2013, 14:54

          @bascb @f1alex ok so I’m going to start topics now saying: “If this wasn’t Hamilton…” 8in the appropriate articles of course)

    4. @gdewilde I will take your point about experience but Ricciardo is 23, Vettel is 25 and Hamilton is 27. So the three are in the same age group if we are gonna have latitude with Ricciardo because he is young let´s have it with everyone

      @f1alex and @bascb yes, this kind of comments happen a lot, and probably, we as fans should stop two seconds before next time we judge another driver when he (Hamilton, Vettel, Alonso, Kimi, Webber, etc.) for doing this kind of comments. F1 fans have a double standard system that sometimes is just funny to watch. That´s my point just how partial we are when we judge drivers behavior and performances.

  8. petreous for president
    30th May 2013, 10:54

    i feel sorry for ricciardo, but if it wasn’t for grosjean, massa checo and maldonado. Not the best talent seen in motorsports in the past 50 years i must admit, The monaco gp would have been the best medicin againt imsomnia. go grosjean go

    1. Well, Maldonado really was innocent in this matter, he had been doing fine so far this weekend. Although it felt a bit funny when he told Chilton that he should learn from his mistakes after the incident, after all, it took Maldonado quite a few similar incidents (and Grosjean to get a penalty) for him to admit his own driving was not up to par!

  9. Five-place penalty for Gutierrez, ten-place penalty for Grosjean.
    WHY?
    Also, I don’t think a drive trough is enough for what Chilton did.

    1. I guess that one part might have been their respective history of crashing, and another aspect that Monaco is a race where you have to be even more carefull than others.

      But agree on what you mention about Chilton’s penalty, its not as if he even lost a lot in that because he was at the back anyway.

    2. @francorchamps17

      Also, I don’t think a drive through is enough for what Chilton did.

      Nor do I but the problem is the range of penalties for the next race are far less punitive for back-of-the-grid teams. Chilton has started on the back row of the grid for four races this year so a five-place grid penalty would have far less effect on him than most other drivers.

      As it was the penalty they did give him was rendered pretty much meaningless by the Safety Car.

      There is a precedent for giving a driver a time penalty before a race starts – Charles Pic had one in Singapore last year when he failed to slow adequately when the red flag came out in practice. I think they should have considered giving Chilton something like that for Canada.

      1. Why not force them to start from the pit lane? By the time cars clear turn 1 (2 and 3 in some cases), they’ll be quite a distance behind as well as at the back of the grid.

        1. Then they can just crash into each other!

        2. There would be no point in them qualifying for a start!

          1. By that logic, is there any point now?

    3. I dont think it makes sense to give Chilton a 10 place grid penalty for the next race… as he would end up staring at the end of the grid anyway ;)

      I think the drive through was a better punishment

      1. Why not actually make it a 10-place grid penalty even for people from the back? Most tracks have a lot more grid slots than 22, so why not let drivers start from slot 32 when they are penalised?

        1. I’m sure Grosjean will start just in front of pole position at some point.

          1. Grosjean will have to cover an extra lap in that scenario then.

        2. That’s a interesting observation. But I feel there would not be much damage due to starting from 32 instead of 22 because there is no traffic in between the 21st car and the 22nd car. That distance could be covered without much of a difficulty. May be they should consider putting a safety car just in front of the 22nd car for at least one/two laps. ;)

          1. That’s a an interesting observation

        3. Hm, but just consider that @mike-dee, you would have a car that gets the green lights at the same time as the others, but has about 50 m longer to accelerate and use KERS to his liking. He would be really fast at the end of the straight, where he would run up to the back of the field who are at that moment bunched up for the first corner.

          Not sure that would be the best position to have a crash prone driver in really!

          1. I didn’t say I thought this propoosal through in any detail :)

          2. @bascb But assuming that the others have crossed turn one before he arrives there, that would potentially reduce a chance of first corner mayhem. But who knows how it might turn out in the first corner.

            By the way I think you were not meaning to say that Chilton is a crash prone driver in your post.

          3. @seehorse, given the speed difference, I doubt the others would be through the corner except in tracks where there is a really long straight. And you are right about Chilton, I was not pointing at him specifically, more at how to punish someone from the back part of the grid for crashing into others during the race.

          4. sorry, that should have been @seahorse

          5. @bascb Yep. That is what seems most likely to happen. That’s why I added ‘how it might turn out’ in my previous comment. And yes, punishing someone prone to crashes (e.g. Grosjean or Maldonao) and especially at the back of a crash, in this way would not yield the desired result of punishing the driver rather would end up being punishment for the back marker teams.

        4. I have sometimes being thinking that the penalty could be carried on. If Grosjean has troubled qualifying in Canada and drops out after Q1 after being 17th, he will drop to last. Then he would still have five-spot penalty for upcoming race, so as he will qualify 9th in Silverstone, he will start 14th.

    4. Chilton was still in the race (somehow) – I guess Grosjean would’ve got a drive-through too if he’d still been running.

      I think the penalty points idea would improve things here – Chilton could get a load of points, not quite enough for a race ban (that would be harsh) but enough to suspend him if he committed another offence.

      1. we would have drivers and teams finishing the year with negative points. That just seems bizzarre

        1. I don’t think that is what is meant by the comment by @tomsk, I think it’s more a view on taking the penalty points system used against UK driving licenses? I.E. 12 points and you’re banned from driving. ses? I.E. 12 points and you’re banned from driving.

        2. I actually quite like the idea of a penalty points system, Would get the teams thinking about driver selection if it also counted in their totals. And regarding the -ve points, alldrivers could start at 100 points, anybody that got to zero would loose their license forever.

          1. @w-k I don’t really like that particular idea: that’s just basically preventing drivers having long careers. Schumacher may not have seen it out until 2006 – he may not have even won 7 championships! I wouldn’t like that.

  10. Seriously what is grosjean doing? look how far raikkonen is in the standings. 4 crashes in a weekend thats not normal. im worried about this kid. immense talent(seen him in GP2) but will probably go down as one of those that didnt fulfill their talents. theres a reason why lotus hired him. they should be in 2nd place instead they are under threat from the mercedes team. i know the team wants 3rd but frankly 3rd isnt good enough compared to the car they have

    1. @um1234 Not sure if their car is actually better than 3rd best tbh. There’s Red Bull which is undeniably better than Lotus. Then there’s Ferrari, which seem to have equally good race pace but better qualifying pace and in that sense would put it ahead of Lotus. But atleast for the first five races Lotus was better than Mercedes just because their race pace difference was so big but this might change during the season. So I would say Lotus is 3rd best/fastest/overall in terms of quali+race pace.

      1. thats true. but i meant if grosjean had 25 more points lets say. lotus would be 2nd in the WCC

        1. True, Raikkonen is carrying the team atm. They should be 2nd but Grosjean is underperforming. Well, also Massa is underperforming for Ferrari tho :)

  11. You’re all quite harsh with Grosjean. He certainly made the mistake of not being careful but at the same time Ricciardo was in the middle and got on the brakes early. Personally I’m sick of all the defensive maneuvers that they all pull out constantly.
    Racing is not trying to block the other ones from passing, it’s being faster than them!

    1. Ricciardo was in the middle and got on the brakes early. Personally I’m sick of all the defensive maneuvers that they all pull out constantly.

      Nonsense. First, despite Grosjean’s claim that Ricciardo braked early, the stewards who have access to the telemetry found Grosjean’s at fault and whacked him with a 10 place grid penalty. Second, have a look at the photo at this link and see how close Ricciardo is to Hulkenberg:-

      http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2013/5/14609.html

      If he’d brake checked Grosjean he could not have been so close to the Hulk. It’s simply an excuse from a driver under massive pressure after four crashes in a single weekend and with a terrible 2012 record.

      It’s a shame really, I like the guy but sadly Grosjean is starting to run out of chances.

    2. Racing is not only about attacking all the time. Ricciardo defended his line, and as he was off line on the dirty part of the track he was obviously going to brake comfortably enough as a move by Grosjean around the outside was highly unlikely.
      I don’t understand how anybody is seeing how its not 100% Grosjean’s fault. The stewards would’ve seen Ricciardos relative braking position as compared to previous laps and would’ve come to the conclusion that Grosjean was simply careless and over zealous and didn’t judge the distances correctly. Ricciardo was simply an innocent party.

  12. Lucas Wilson (@full-throttle-f1)
    30th May 2013, 12:54

    sack Grojean, bring back Kamui!

    1. It’s true Kamui deserves a seat.

  13. I would love for Grosjean to win the next race to silence all these professional drivers… errr, I meant all these fans at home who think of themselves as professional drivers… errr, I meant professional witch hunters, which that they are. ;)

    1. True, I am no romain grosejan fan but I think it was more of Daniels fault,he braked early(and was have tyre troubles).

    2. I would love for Grosjean to win the next race

      And I would like to see Bianchi on the podium.

      None of them are gonna happen though… in fact the Grosjean win looks more unlikely looking at his current form

    3. Numerous accidents and 1 race ban speak for itself in this case…

      1. @gdewilde

        And a certain Gilles in your profile picture destroyed more cars than anyone else in his first couple of years.

        1. Abdurahman (@)
          31st May 2013, 7:33

          I’d be interested to know if Gilles V. was taking out other drivers as well.

        2. @ivano ….and in his second season he almost won the World Championship… Don’t compare Villeneuve to Grosjean, that’s just bad taste..

          1. @gdewilde

            I didn’t compare the two, just made the point Gilles destroyed more cars.

            Also, it was only in his third year, 79, he almost won the title. In 77 he raced for McLaren then Ferrari.

          2. He had 25 DNF’s in his career, 6 of them due to an accident or spinning off the circuit. That’s 6 years of racing.. (Yes, I counted 1977). So no, he didn’t destroy more cars

    4. Sure, because Maldonado winning a race silenced all his critics, right?

      1. @george

        Maldonado won a race before his famous hammer-head onto Lewis.

  14. OmarR-Pepper (@)
    30th May 2013, 14:55

    First time EVER I see Ricciardo NOT smiling

    1. It must’ve been a travesty.

    2. @omarr-pepper @kingshark

      Now he really looks like a younger Sylvester Stallone…

  15. I don’t think that anyone would deny that Grosjean has talent. He has to have some in order to have earned a seat in F1. With that said though, even people with talent need to be replaced when they hurt the team too many times.
    It remains yet to be seen whether Grosjean or RIC is the better the driver, but right now, if I was Lotus, I would rather have RIC paired with Kimi. I say that because Ricciardo appears to have a cooler head and he finishes the majority of races, and even though he doesn’t get a lot of points, he doesn’t hurt the team.

  16. Abdurahman (@)
    31st May 2013, 2:53

    All that you have to do is look at the amassed quotes from F1 DRIVERS THEMSELVES! in regards to Maldonado and Grosjean. I take their professional opinions. They are the ones out there dealing with these numskulls.

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