Ricciardo reveals 'gobbled up' reason for Albon crash

Daniel Ricciardo felt he was "gobbled up" and was not "totally ignorant" of Alex Albon's position during their Japanese Grand Prix crash.

On Lap 1, the RB driver clipped Albon's Williams at Turn 3, sending both heavily into the tyre barrier, and triggering a red flag for repairs lasting nearly half-an-hour.

Ricciardo's attention was drawn to the Aston Martin of Lance Stroll on his inside, as he drifted across the track, but the Australian, who was ultimately cleared by the stewards in their investigation, felt his problems began with the medium tyres he started on.

"We got gobbled up on that medium, and it is weird because the cars in front of us looked like they got off the line well, and I am pretty sure everyone in front was on mediums," Ricciardo told media including RacingNews365.

"It looks like Yuki and I didn't have the grip that we anticipated, and as soon as we launched, I could see [Valtteri] Bottas and [Nico] Hulkenberg split and just go around us.

Ricciardo defends move

Reviewing the incident after climbing unaided from the wrecked RB machine, Ricciardo felt Albon was in an unusual position, but conceded that it was not the type of move he would usually do, especially when the field is bunched on Lap 1.

"Into Turn 1, I was in the middle, with Yuki and an Alpine and for Turn 2, I thought: 'Let's just settle', and as soon as I got on the throttle, I was struggling and think Stroll was on the outside, and was trying to hold him off," he added.

"I guess as I've started to come back for Turn 3, Albon is there, and I've watched his on-board, and I don't even know if he wanted to be there, but his traction was so much better on the soft that he was like: 'Well, there's space on the outside until there isn't.'

"But honestly, I always assume maybe someone is there, it is Lap 1, and I've never tried to use the full-width of the track and be completely ignorant but obviously there was not enough room.

"All things considered, if I could wind the clock back an hour, I would start on the softs, but for the record, I wanted to be on the mediums.

"It is not something I fought against, but knowing what we know now, the soft would have been better for us."