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Former F1 driver Felipe Massa was not amused by Daniel Ricciardo's recent joke about bringing back Nelson Piquet Jr. at the Singapore GP after the Australian had a poor qualifying session. The joke was made because Nelson Piquet intentionally crashed his car into the barriers during the 2008 Singapore GP, hampering Massa's chances to win his maiden championship.
At the 2008 F1 Singapore GP, Renault intentionally orchestrated Nelson Piquet Jr.'s crash on lap 15. At the time, Fernando Alonso was in the pits for fuel, which essentially made the pitstop free and gave the Spaniard a massive boost in the pecking order.
On the other hand, it hurt race leader Felipe Massa since he had to pit after the crash and lost his lead. In the end, the Brazilian finished P13, behind his championship rival Lewis Hamilton, who finished third. The incidents at the Singapore GP became a major turning point in the title battle as Hamilton won his first championship against Massa by one point.
Fast forward to 2024, Daniel Ricciardo had a poor qualifying session at the F1 Singapore GP. While speaking about the main race on Sunday, the RB driver cheekily joked about bringing back Nelson Piquet Jr. so that he gets a free pitstop and an opportunity to have a better result. He said (via Motorsport):
"Hopefully, [we get] a well-timed safety car. Bring Piquet back, and let's make it happen!"
To this, Felipe Massa replied that though he understands that anything can be joked about, it was not right to make jokes about something ethically wrong. He said (via F1Oversteer):
“I think jokes are jokes. But that might not be a particularly nice joke. Making jokes about something that wasn’t right for the sport is not so nice. But I wasn’t there, I didn’t hear the exact wording, and I understand that jokes are jokes. But it’s definitely not a nice joke, and of course it’s not a nice thing that this happened to me.”
Daniel Ricciardo shared thoughts after his last race in Singapore
Daniel Ricciardo recently shared his thoughts on the Singapore GP and how he was not lucky with a safety car during the race. The Honey Badger had a poor qualifying session on Saturday where he secured P16. On Sunday, he lost a couple of places on the grid. He finished the race at P18, several places behind his teammate Yuki Tsunoda (P12).
Speaking to F1.com, he explained how his poor qualifying session hampered his race. He said though the team tried different strategies, he could have been luckier to get a free pitstop during a safety car, which never arrived.
"Yeah tough race. I think after...anytime you are out of Q1, you know, you have a potentially long day and had to try something with strategy and you never know when a safety car could work in your favor. Obviously there was not a safety car today. So yeah, obviously our strategy then came a little undone. I think ultimately we were just not quite quick enough," Daniel Ricciardo said.
Amid the Singapore GP, rumors flew that it could be Daniel Ricciardo's last race. The atmosphere around the paddock after the race further solidified these speculations. Eventually Red Bull announced his official departure from their camp a few days after Marina Bay's race.
