Daniel Ricciardo ‘not that much of an a**hole’ as he waits on Lance Stroll apology

Daniel Ricciardo says he and Lance Stroll are yet to clear the air over their collision at the F1 Chinese Grand Prix.

The RB driver was left furious with Stroll after he was forced to retire with damage after being rear-ended by the Canadian’s Aston Martin as the field bunched up at the hairpin during a Safety Car restart in Shanghai.

Ricciardo said at the time that Stroll’s refusal to take responsibility for the clash made his “blood boil”.

Asked if he wanted to speak with Stroll ahead of this weekend’s Miami Grand Prix, Ricciardo replied: "I would say no, because I feel it's not going to go anywhere.

"I can accept an apology, I'm not that much of an asshole. But the fact that there's not even that... He clearly doesn't think he did anything wrong. So I guess there's not much to say.

"Obviously, if we sit next to each other in the drivers' briefing and he wants to chat, I'm not going to ignore him or anything.”

Ricciardo believes it is always better for drivers to clear the air after an incident, regardless of who was at fault, to avoid making “enemies”.

"When I was younger, maybe I was more stubborn, didn't always apologise for something that was my fault," he explained.

"But the last few years, if I take someone out or even if it's 50/50, I'll still say: 'Look, maybe I could have done better, so sorry for ruining our day.' I'll just text them clear the air a little bit.

"We're all rivals, but you don't want to have a target and you don't need enemies. I'm not going as far as saying he is an enemy or anything. It's an incident and we'll move on.

"But you don't obviously want to get what you're giving. In that position, if I didn't see him in person I would at least say: 'Hey man sorry, I was looking somewhere else, or you braked really hard and caught me off guard.' Whatever, just something.

"But yeah, it's fine. Obviously we're talking about it, but I have certainly moved on.”

Stroll refused to answer questions on the subject, simply responding: "Not for this room. Those things are done behind closed doors."