Damon Hill: Ricciardo should have backed out of Bottas move

Valtteri Bottas’ performance was seriously hindered after a collision with Daniel Ricciardo on the opening lap of the Mexican Grand Prix. While Ricciardo escaped stewards’ penalty, Damon Hill believes the Australian was to fault.

Damon Hill believes Daniel Ricciardo should have reconsidered his move that resulted in his collision with Valtteri Bottas on the first lap of the Mexican Grand Prix.

Bottas was clipped by Daniel Ricciardo’s McLaren heading into Turn 1 and spun as a result after battling with Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen at the start. At the end of Lap 1, both cars pitted, pushing them to the back of the pack.

Bottas subsequently spent the rest of the race trailing Ricciardo, and neither driver was able to reclaim a points-paying position. The stewards did not look into the incident.

Hill, on the other hand, believes the Australian could have avoided action, albeit he agrees that Bottas may not have taken the best line.

“[The racing line is] to make the corner as shallow as possible,” Hill told the F1 Nation podcast. “Well he made it as tight as possible by going down the inside.

“You’ve got one option – you can stop and then turn right, which he couldn’t do, or you can go straight across it. Basically what happened [is] he hadn’t got enough [space], and it’s the dirty side of the track.

“But Valtteri did cut into the apex, [and] I think it’s always worth leaving a bit of space at the beginning part of the race. I used to try and look really vague about where I was going, then I’d hope that would put people off, not knowing whether I was going to go right or left.

“So taking the normal racing line into the first corner of a race was probably not a good move from Valtteri.

“[But] I think Danny should have backed out of that a bit earlier.”

Ricciardo and Bottas have their say

Ricciardo, who finished the race in 12th place, stated that he was “kicking himself” at the time for the move, but afterwards realized it was a racing incident.

“Looking now at the replay, I locked in the straight-line phase, and then actually recovered before turning in,” Ricciardo told media. “It looked like there was just not enough room.

“Valtteri came across probably expecting to have a bit of clear track. And then there was Perez and me, so I don’t really blame Valtteri. Obviously, I’m the one that hit him.

“But looking at the replay, I just think it’s a first lap incident and a matter of maybe me being optimistic. But I feel that it’s one of those gaps that, if you don’t go for it, someone else will and then you’re going to get the short end of the straw.”

Meanwhile, Bottas finished 15th and felt he had a “unlucky” day, with a difficult pit stop midway through the race compounding his woes.

“As I turned into Turn 1, I got hit from behind and spun around – then I was stuck in traffic and couldn’t make progress,” the Finn explained.

“I was giving it everything, but it was hard running in traffic because I was overheating the brakes and engine, so I couldn’t get past the McLaren in front.”

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