Daniel Ricciardo has admitted a fundamental driving error caused his nasty high speed accident during Friday free practice for this weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix.
The Western Australian’s second free practice session at Suzuka came to a premature end when he went straight on at the final corner while preparing for a flying lap.
Ricciardo’s RB10 suffered heavy damage to the front left after making heavy contact with the barriers.
The 25-year-old, who had topped the timesheets before the crash, admitted the accident was caused by a driver error rather than a mechanical issue.
“I made a mistake,” Ricciardo told reporters after the session.
“I did my first quick lap and everyone is cooling after that, producing fast lap, slow lap and then fast again.
“On the slow lap there was a yellow flag, so I went extra slow so that once I started my quick lap the yellow flag would have cleared and I would have been able to push.
“The tyres probably cooled too much and out of the last chicane I got on the power and had a few moments and just couldn’t catch it.
“It’s of course not what I wanted in the first ten minutes of the second session, but I’ll learn from it.
“It’s not ideal as we missed running this afternoon, but Sebastian (Vettel) did a full session so we will be able to see his data.”
Ricciardo ended the session 10th overall while Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton ended the day quickest.