Daniel Ricciardo's race was effectively over in Mexico City after lap one contact with Valtteri Bottas.
Daniel Ricciardo was limited to a battle with Valtteri Bottas at the rear of the Mexico City Grand Prix. (McLaren)
Ricciardo could only manage twelfth after clipping the rear of the Mercedes driver into turn one.
Bottas spun to the rear of the field while Ricciardo lost his front wing and was forced to pit.
"The first lap incident was about as painful as they get because your race is pretty much over from the start," said Ricciardo.
"I was in a tricky position because I know that if I didn’t go for it, someone else would have, and I’d probably have been swamped by other cars"
"At the end of the day, I think it’s just a lap one incident"
The Australian was able to see the bright side of what could have been in Mexico City.
"The start was good and those first few hundred metres were looking positive."
"I think we were potentially in P4, and in a split-second it changes."
"That’s the nature of the beast, but these ones are pretty painful because you have to endure the race and hope something happens, but nothing really did."
Daniel Ricciardo lost his front wing in lap one contact with Valtteri Bottas. (McLaren)
Bottas and Ricciardo both looked set to fight their way through the field, but the McLaren driver could only manage P12 while the Finn reached P15.
"I was able to defend Bottas, normally when you’re doing that it’s for a good position, but we were both obviously at the back."
"The car was also damaged, and we had a chunk of downforce missing."
"A bit heart-breaking."
"For a few seconds it looked awesome and then it looked pretty un-awesome."
"We’ll try to come back in Brazil."
