BAKU, Azerbaijan -- Daniel Ricciardo will face a three-place grid penalty at the next race for his clumsy collision with Toro Rosso's Daniil Kvyat at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
The Renault driver attempted a late lunge on his former teammate late in the race, but misjudged the move and went straight on at the slip-road at Turn 3. That forced Kvyat wide into the slip road as well and the two cars came to a stop next to each other.
While trying to get going again, Ricciardo reversed immediately into Kvyat's car, sustaining damage to his car and to the floor of the Toro Rosso. Both cars retired from the race shortly afterward, with TV replays showing Ricciardo holding his head in his hands as Renault wheeled his car back into the garage.
It was an uncharacteristic lack of composure from Ricciardo, who admitted he had been too quick to try and undo his original mistake.
"I don't feel good about what happened," Ricciardo said shortly after apologising to Kvyat. "I know what happened but at the time it was looking quite good for us. We were starting to pick up the pace and closing in on Dani I saw a gap and thought I'll have a go.
"It is always tight into 3 but initially I had the commitment and thought I'd pull it off. Then I felt I was going to start to lock and miss the corner, so then at that point as soon as I went down the escape road it was just a sense of urgency and a bit of panic. Just trying to minimize damage and lose as little time as possible.
"So I found reverse and started going and to be honest I had no idea he was there. I guess the urgency stopped me from looking. When I went long, I just thought he'd have cut back and stayed on track, but I was just trying to minimize the mistake I made which turned into another mistake. So kind of crappy on my part. I certainly feel bad for the team, and for Dani obviously it is not cool, but for the team there is more than that. So the positive was the pace, but it is not the way I wanted it to end up."
The stewards reviewing the incident found Ricciardo to have caused a collision. They issued him the grid penalty, which he will serve at the Spanish Grand Prix in two weeks' time, as well as issuing him two penalty points on his superlicence. A driver is automatically banned for one race if they accumulate 12 points over a 12-month period -- these Baku points are the only blots on Ricciardo's record.
Kvyat feels the incident cost him a shot at finishing in the top 10.
Kvyat said: "These things happen, it is racing, That's all I can say. I was a bit disappointed in the moment, but now what can I do about it? There was potential for a point or two which I would have taken and the team deserved because yesterday in qualifying our car was great.
"We move on to the next one. We have a strong package so I am sure [our] time will come."