A radio message has surfaced from McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo after a highly contentious finish to the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and the 2021 season.
Sir Lewis Hamilton was leading title rival Max Verstappen by over 14 seconds heading into the latter stages of the race, before a crash for Williams’ Nicholas Latifi brought out the Safety Car.
Verstappen then pitted for fresh soft tyres, but found himself with five cars between himself and Hamilton, with race director Michael Masi initially decreeing that those five would not be allowed to un-lap themselves.
READ: ‘Just more unlucky times!’ Norris reflects on disappointing Abu Dhabi GP
The train of cars consisted of Lando Norris, Fernando Alonso, Esteban Ocon, Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel, with Ricciardo in 12th place.
In a dramatic turn, Masi allowed the five cars in front of Ricciardo to go by, putting Verstappen right up behind Hamilton, facilitating a move from the Dutchman on the final lap to take his first F1 crown.
Ricciardo was held, meaning that he had no chance of fighting for points, and he was understandably aggrieved by this.
On the radio, he described the events of the final two laps as “pretty f***** up”, as his extremely difficult first season with the Woking-based team ended in almost customary disappointment for the 32-year-old.
“I’m glad I’m not part of that, whatever just happened. Seemed, uh, pretty f***** up,” he said.
Speaking after the controversy-packed race, Ricciardo added: “I don’t want [you] to ask me … I want to ask you. Tell me, tell me what happened.
“Crazy. Crazy, crazy finale. At the end it was kind of weird, they said cars can’t pass, the lapped cars, then some of them did, but then I wasn’t allowed to.”
Ricciardo also sympathised with Hamilton after the manner in which the Briton missed out on his eighth world title.
“I said before the weekend, there’s no loser. They’ve both done everything possible … but of course, for Lewis to lose it on the last lap, that’s a tough one today.”
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