Ricciardo and Tsunoda disagree over RB swap call at Bahrain Formula 1 race

Tsunoda was chasing Kevin Magnussen for 12th place on the hard tires while his teammate Ricciardo was closing in on them on the soft tyres.

On lap 50, RB asked Tsunoda to concede his position to his teammate so that Ricciardo could attack the Haas driver on the faster tire compound, which the Japanese driver initially objected to, but later switched places on the following lap.

Ricciardo was unable to pass Magnussen but retained thirteenth place and finished directly in front of Tsunoda.

Throughout the incident, Tsunoda aired his grievances in the swap call over the team radio and in the cool-down session appeared to serve Ricciardo.

Speaking after the race, Tsunoda said he did not understand the right-back team and wanted to review the decision.

“I was about to pass Magnussen, and I was side by side on the main straight and had a driver exchange [for the] “The last few laps,” Tsunoda said.

“To be honest, I didn't understand what the team was thinking. So, I should understand what they were thinking, but so far I don't.

“We have to review their ideas, to be honest. I don't really understand.

However, Ricciardo said in the team's pre-race strategy meeting that the scenario had been covered so he expected the swap.

“We talked about it before the race and discussed the strategy and we have some plans about the strategy we might do,” Ricciardo explained.

“It was very likely that we would start with the new soft which meant that I would finish the race on the new soft and fly one last offensive mission. The call was quite unexpected.

“I know when you're in the race and you're a bit emotional and it's a bit more intense, but this call was not a surprise.

“Obviously every lap counts when you're on that tire and you're trying to get a little bit of grip on it, so you have to heed the call of the team. And we weren't in the points yet, so there was really nothing to lose. Just let me go and see Whether I can do something about it.”

Ricciardo added that he would be happy to swap positions with Tsunoda if the call came from the right-back after he was unable to get past Magnussen.

“In the end, whether I'm 13th or 14th, I don't know if any driver cares about it but I don't care, so if the team had let him back before the finish line I would have done it because it means nothing to me,” he added. We are in the points, who cares?

“But that's really only if I'm in the points position. If I'm allowed to get ninth and he's 10th or whatever, maybe you'll switch back if I can't get eighth. But in that case, it wasn't Important today.

“It's the first of 24 races and yes there was a bit of conflict today but I don't want it to affect the track. I think we'll talk about it now in the press conference frankly. I hope that once he calms down, he can say: OK, yes, it was “I have to move early.”

The Australian also felt that the disruption had ruined his chance of passing Magnussen, and he was then ahead of Zhou Guanyu, who finished 11th, having lost peak performance on his soft tires before he could attack the Haas driver.

“To be completely transparent on my part, I think the call came one lap too late and then his reaction was too late,” Ricciardo explained.

“When the tire is that soft, every lap is crucial, I think I actually lost a good two-and-a-half laps of the tire and maybe that was the difference.

“Could we have caught Stroll in 10th place? No, at best we might have caught Cho. So, the points were still difficult but we had to try something.