Lance Stroll lambasted as “unbelievable” for Daniel Ricciardo “idiot” remark

Lance Stroll has come under heavy criticism by Helmut Marko for his “idiot” remark about Daniel Ricciardo.

Ricciardo was left seething by Stroll at last weekend’s F1 Chinese Grand Prix.

Aston Martin’s Stroll caused the retirement of RB’s Ricciardo by driving into the back of him during a Safety Car restart.

Stroll called Ricciardo “an idiot” for braking hard, but stewards penalised the Aston Martin driver for the incident.

“Daniel Ricciardo was hit by Lance Stroll in China and unfortunately was robbed of all chances,” Red Bull’s Marko told Speedweek.

“I find it unbelievable that Lance Stroll called him an idiot after the chequered flag fell.

“And that he also had to receive a penalty for Miami. This really wasn't his weekend.”

Ricciardo entered last weekend’s race in China under severe pressure to cling onto his RB drive, after his aspirations of claiming the 2025 Red Bull decreased due to his poor form.

But an encouraging round in Shanghai restored some faith.

“Daniel Ricciardo had a new chassis available in China and the whole thing was planned from the start because it is our third chassis that we wanted to bring to the track,” Marko said.

“But of course this change also played into psychology after Daniel's disappointing performances on the previous weekends.

“Things went much better for Ricciardo in China.”

Ricciardo unqualified teammate Yuki Tsunoda for the sprint race and the grand prix in China.

Marko assessed: “Yuki Tsunoda showed in Shanghai: If we look at another Shanghai rookie, Oscar Piastri, we see that the Australian was half a second to a full second slower than Lando Norris in the race.

“So Shanghai is certainly a track where experience counts, especially since the newcomers received even less driving time in the sprint format.

“The Racing Bulls may have made the mistake of letting Tsunoda run on hard tyres in the only free practice session, when the track offered next to no grip and Yuki just slid around on those rollers.

“In the race, Tsunoda's lap times were at Ricciardo level. He would have had a chance to score points, but Magnussen dashed that hope.”