Romain Grosjean held Daniel Ricciardo responsible for the first-lap collision which wiped out both Lotus drivers.
Ricciardo tried to pass Grosjean on the inside of Village corner at the start. That forced Grosjean wide where he collided with Pastor Maldonado, putting both out.
“Daniel must have thought his brakes and tyres would be able to slow him better than they did and the result was the end of both my and Pastor’s race,” said Grosjean.
Maldonado said he tried continue following the collision. “At first I thought I had a puncture and would be able to return to the pits and re-join the race but unfortunately the damage to the car was more serious than that and I had to retire.”
“There is nothing you can do in situations like these as it’s all part of racing.”
Lotus’s deputy team principal Federico Gastaldi said neither of his drivers were responsible for the collision “Motorsport is sometimes a cruel sport and we saw that today,” he said. “There was nothing either of our drivers could have done to avoid the first lap incident and that was our race over.”
David-A (@david-a)
5th July 2015, 16:16
“I haven’t obviously seen what happened at the start but the guys confirmed that it was the first-lap nutcase again Grosjean,” Riiciardo responded.
hamman
5th July 2015, 17:48
Ricciardo better watch out. His teammate was absolutely very really good today. Under all sorts of circumstances. And people already say things like Ricciardo is not that good at the starts or in wet. They are starting to remind me of Vettel and Webber.
Baron
5th July 2015, 19:18
Ricciardo hardly impressed me last year. Only Spa was impressive. The rest was purely down to fortune and a car that rarely broke down while that of his teammate broke down almost every race. Especially in the beginning.
We’ll see if Ricciardo really is all that people want him to be. I doubt it.
David-A (@david-a)
5th July 2015, 21:10
I thought he was very impressive last year, with solid drives and good overtakes for most of the year, and he outperformed Vettel. Though in my opinion, last year was an anomaly for Sebastian, proved by just about every other season he’s had since 2007. Whether it was also an anomaly for Ricciardo (who I don’t think really stood out at STR that much) remains to be seen.
Johanness
6th July 2015, 9:47
In a year Vettel was needing to fulfill his non-performance clause in his contract? Not so impressive. This year is more a litmus test – and confirms he’s not in the same league as SV
Nase (@)
5th July 2015, 21:26
Sorry mate, but if you really mean what you say, you haven’t actually watched the races. There were so many races where he simply outpaced Vettel and even overtook him on the track – I stopped counting.
spoutnik (@spoutnik)
5th July 2015, 23:43
@david-a what a stupid comment from him, on the aerial view one can see that Ricciardo leaves absolutely no space to Grosjean, and it all ends with both Lotus and Button retiring. Race incident, but hardly a nutcase Grosjean.
David-A (@david-a)
5th July 2015, 23:52
*Ricciardo didn’t actually call Grosjean a first lap nutcase.
Neel Jani (@neelv27)
5th July 2015, 16:26
Well I just know one thing. In an incident where Pastor is involved, he is not guilty! That’s a rarity! :D
Slowhands (@slowhands)
5th July 2015, 16:27
Pastor is doing better this year.
Aldoid
5th July 2015, 19:01
Pastor Maldonado has never been guilty of causing any Motorsport related accident or incident (according to Pastor Maldonado, of course).
Neil (@neilosjames)
5th July 2015, 16:30
“No further action” from stewards. Didn’t think it was anyone’s fault, glad they saw it that way.
Ivan Vinitskyy (@ivan-vinitskyy)
5th July 2015, 16:41
anyone got a video?
Stretch (@stretch)
5th July 2015, 16:54
It was fairly narly: http://gfycat.com/YoungGoodGalapagosdove
JayR (@deidunxf1)
5th July 2015, 17:21
Looks like Grosjean touched Ricciardo and he turned away and collected Maldonado. Grosjean couldn’t straighten it out or he’d have collected Ericsson. But from Daniel’s onboard it was an awfully late move from Ricciardo.
pSynrg (@psynrg)
5th July 2015, 18:01
It also looks like Grosjean is just starting to loose the rear prior to Ricciardo’s rear making contact with his front wheel. Grosjean is correcting the slide but the contact just snaps it off on one.
Pretty much a start lap incident really, stewards called it right.
John H (@john-h)
5th July 2015, 18:20
I agree. Grosjean lost it first in fact. Making his car very nervous to any future cobtact (which happened)… but of course its much easier to blame someone else.
Nase (@)
5th July 2015, 21:31
I don’t agree. “Making his car very nervous” was already his reaction to Ricciardo braking extremely late. Running wide was not a real option, because there were already people there. And then, Ricciardo overshot the limit a step further and banged wheels with Grosjean, sending the Lotus into a spin. Pretty clearly Ricciardo’s fault, although I like the stewards’ decision. That was a racing incident.
Strontium (@strontium)
5th July 2015, 21:53
It looked like it did indeed get away from Grosjean, but this is the start of the race, in any other situation a collision may not have occurred. I think they made the correct decision.
Boomerang
6th July 2015, 12:00
This was racing incident indeed. However in my opinion it started back in Enstone, in Lotus’ aero department. It seems they are trying to prove something that obviously doesn’t work. They run the smallest rear wing compared to all teams in the paddock. If you compare it to Williams’ difference is massive. They don’t have the best working floor, that goes to Merc and RBR but they somehow stick to the conviction they can run very low drag rear wing. E23 is driver’s car indeed and has no fundamental suspension flaw like FW37 but the aero is getting them nowhere. Guys from their aero seem to be stuck in one way of thinking and they can’t get out of it. The refreshment in the aero dept is very needed but I’m afraid with their salary policy they can hardly get some stronger players. With contemporary approach they’re destined to average results and lower starting slots with higher incident risks. I wish I’m wrong, ’cause they deserve much better results.