DANIEL Ricciardo’s Russian Grand Prix was effectively over at the first corner — and all because of his teammate.

Ricciardo was the innocent victim of contact between Daniil Kvyat and Sebastian Vettel, a hit from the former sending the latter sliding into the No. 3 Red Bull.

Although Ricciardo would limp back to the pits and return to the race, a charging drive to 11th — and no world championship points — meant his race may as well have ended on the spot.

“That’s where it all sort of ended; the start,” a dejected Ricciardo told Sky Sports. “We finished the race but we had a lot of damage from the first corner.”

Ricciardo had already turned into the corner when he was assaulted from behind — but he instinctively knew Vettel wasn’t to blame.

“I saw Seb come into me but I knew it wasn’t him, because the way he came into me wasn’t natural. I knew he’d got hit from behind,” he said.

“I asked the team whose fault it was — I think they said Seb to keep me a little bit calm — but I saw a replay under the safety car. I saw the screens and it looked like it was Dani.

“It’s frustrating. Not only my race, but a few were ruined today.”

Ricciardo said he had only briefly seen a full replay when talking to reporters after the race, but based on his recollections couldn’t understand what his teammate had been trying to achieve.

“If Dani’s hit Seb, I don’t know where Dani was going,” he said.

“It’s not like there was room on the inside — from what I remember we were three in a line so the track was blocked for him.

“I don’t really know why he was trying to outbrake, or if he was trying to defend someone behind him, I’m not sure.”

Any hopes Ricciardo had of fighting his way forward — as he did after his early puncture in the Chinese Grand Prix — were snuffed out by the team’s decision to fit the hardest available tyres on his Lap 1 pit stop in a bid to try and make it to the finish without a further visit.

Although he did briefly rise into the top 10 as rivals pitted, Ricciardo lacked the pace to make the most of the improved track position and slid back.

Eventually the team brought him in to fit soft tyres for the run home, allowing him to charge from 18th to 11th at the chequered flag.

“We don’t really know what our real pace was today so it was just (about) trying to do something but there was a lot of damage.”

Ricciardo has slipped to fourth in the world championship standings, sandwiched between Ferrari drivers Kimi Raikkonen and Vettel.

The next race is the Spanish Grand Prix in a fortnight’s time.