Daniel Ricciardo says F1 ‘could all go F- themselves’

Daniel Ricciardo was not happy with the way Formula 1 handled Romain Grosjean’s crash from the aspect of showing the replays.

Much of the response to Romain Grosjean’s fiery opening lap crash in Sunday’s Bahrain Grand Prix Formula 1 race at Bahrain International Circuit was positive in that heaps of justifiable praise were given to the sport’s safety team and the safety advancements made over the years that ultimately played a massive role in saving Grosjean’s life.

But Daniel Ricciardo issued harsh criticism toward F1 officials following the horrific accident.

Riccirado’s criticism was focused on a different aspect of the crash: the fact that F1 showed multiple different replays of the wreck shortly after it had happened and before the race resumed.

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The race was red flagged after only 36 seconds of competition, as the wreck took place in turn three of the 15-turn, 3.363-mile (5.412-kilometer) road course in Sakhir, Bahrain and resulted in the need for a lengthy repair process in order for the race to continue.

So while Grosjean was being transported to the Bahrain Defence Force (BDF) Hospital, every one of the other 19 drivers in the field got out of their cars and had access to multiple screens on which to view the incident from numerous different angles as they were played.

So did the Formula 1 fans watching worldwide.

Generally speaking, replays of incidents are not shown initially unless it has been confirmed that the driver or drivers involved are okay.

After Grosjean removed himself from his car and emerged from the flames of the inferno that ensued when his Haas split in two following hard contact with the inside retaining barrier, it was evident that he had not sustained any significant or life-threatening injuries, despite the fact that the cockpit had sliced through but not completely cleared the barrier.

As a result, replays were shown. Additionally, no onboard footage from Grosjean’s car was ever shown beyond a certain point in the crash.

But Ricciardo doesn’t think any of that should have been shown, and he went as far as saying that F1 “could all go F- themselves” for showing it.

Here is what Ricciardo told MBC Action after the race.

"“To be honest I don’t really want comment too much on the race, I just want to express how angry I am at Formula 1. The way they chose to broadcast Romain’s incident over and over and over again — all that we need to see is that he’s OK. We don’t need to see every screen we look at, a ball of fire and all of this. His family has to keep watching that. Our families, knowing that we’re getting in the car in an hour had to watch it, watch it…“I want to use harsher words but it’s so inconsiderate and I was just disgusted with the way they chose to play that. It felt like it was a game — it felt like it was entertainment, and it was all for the wrong reasons.“I felt like they could all go F- themselves, to be honest.“Yeah, everywhere you look it’s there. Initially we’re waiting to hear that he’s OK; once we got word of that obviously that was a little bit easier to handle but then everywhere you look there’s the replays. Everyone you look at, their eyes are staring at the screen, so nobody’s focused on the race, no one’s focused on what we’ve got to do the next hour and a half.“Show it tomorrow, show it in a week’s time, I don’t know, but don’t do it now. Show something else. We’ve all got families, we’ve all got people that care about us and it was violent, it was graphic and it was cold-blooded for them to show it how they did.”"

Ricciardo ultimately finished the race in seventh place and scored six points to move into fourth place in the driver standings ahead of Racing Point’s Sergio Perez after Perez was forced to retire from third with only a handful of laps to go due to an engine issue.