The Chinese Grand Prix in 2024 was an eventful race for various reasons. It all started with the wet sprint qualifying on Friday, which brought chaos to the weekend. The chaos continued into the race when two drivers collided even before the safety car restart. After the 56-lap event, in the cooldown room, there was a shocking and bizarre incident between the two drivers.
During the smooth running of the Chinese Grand Prix, everything changed when a car got stranded on the circuit. This resulted in yellow flags and the deployment of a safety car. However, this caused the pack to close up, and Lance Stroll crashed his AMR24 into the rear of Daniel Ricciardo’s VCARB 01 at the turn 14 hairpin.
The discussions in the cooldown room were filled with reactions to Stroll hitting Daniel. Max Verstappen, Lando Norris, and another driver closely analyzed the clash. The Mexican driver seemed bewildered, while Norris and Verstappen were in shock, commenting, “No way,” as they watched the incident in disbelief.
After being hit by Stroll, Ricciardo’s car suffered damage to its diffuser, forcing him to retire from the race. This incident led to tension between Ricciardo and Stroll, with the Australian driver blaming Stroll for the reckless crash.
Ricciardo shared his perspective on the clash with the Aston Martin driver. He explained that everyone was following the leader and waiting for the signal to go flat-out. However, Stroll unexpectedly hit him, causing significant damage to his car. After reviewing the onboard footage, Ricciardo concluded that Stroll was not paying attention to the gap between their cars, attributing it to a lack of judgment on Stroll’s part.
The stewards agreed with Ricciardo’s assessment and penalized Stroll with a 10-second penalty for the incident. This penalty took Stroll out of contention for points, and he eventually finished in 15th place. On the other hand, Ricciardo’s teammate secured seventh place and set the fastest lap of the race, further extending his lead in the intra-team battle.