Stroll denies responsibility for 'stupid' Ricciardo shunt

Lance Stroll has called the accident he had with Daniel Ricciardo at the Chinese Grand Prix "really stupid", saying the concertina effect was to blame, not the Australian driver.

As the pack readied itself to get back underway during the first safety car period during the race at the Shanghai International Circuit, a gaggle of cars led by Stroll's team-mate Fernando Alonso bunched up at the Turn 14 hairpin.

Whilst Ricciardo was able to narrowly avoid Oscar Piastri ahead, Stroll behind him was not so lucky, careering into the back of the RB and sending the car into the air momentarily.

"Concertina effect," the Canadian driver replied when asked by media including RacingNews365 what had happened.

"Someone braked at the front of the pack – I don’t know who – and then everyone stopped.

"The car in front of me just stopped from like 60kph to zero, and then boom, so it was really stupid – it’s one of those."

During the race, Stroll could be heard over team radio bemoaning the 10 second time penalty he received for the incident, calling it a "joke" to his engineer.

When asked to clarify his remarks, the 25-year-old elaborated on why he felt the punishment was unjust.

"I think it's just because of the fact that I hit the guy, but someone hit the brakes and caused a concertina," Stroll responded.

“I don't know, but I find it's just – I got a penalty because of the end result that I hit Ricciardo, but it's not like everything was normal and I just ploughed into the back of him.

“It was a really odd concertina effect that I would have liked to see the stewards take into consideration maybe a little bit more.”

The Aston Martin driver went on to explain he had not seen the incident coming, confirming there was no warning of the field bunching up ahead of him, before adding: “I guess a little bit wrong place [at the wrong time] too, you know, I was on his gearbox kind of thing and ready for the restart and just very unlucky – we were having a good race until then so it’s a shame."

Whilst Ricciardo was furious at Stroll, saying the initial response to the crash made his "blood boil" and saying "fuck" Stroll, the Canadian said he did not view the RB driver as the responsible party.

“I don’t think it’s him. It was everyone, you know. Everyone slammed on the brakes, and he was the guy in front of me."