Daniel Ricciardo has joined a growing number of Formula 1 drivers calling for the sport to move away from using sponsors’ logos as trophies.
Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen are among those who have voiced criticism of the trophies recently. Asked by RaceFans what he thought of their views, Ricciardo indicated he largely agreed.“A win is a win and you’re actually not too fussed in the moment what the trophy looks like,” he said. “I’m the winner and my high is higher than what’s going to be handed to me.
“But I think whether it’s a year on or 10 years on you’re going to look back and if you see something amazing sitting in your cabinet, it’s going to be a lot nicer than seeing, as Seb said, a Heineken star or whatever.”
Vettel criticised the trophies shaped to match the F1 sponsor’s star after they were handed out at the Mexican Grand Prix. Ricciardo wants promoters to use designs which reflect local heritage or culture.
“In Mexico, the bottle of tequila we all received was like a piece of art,” he said, “it was all hand-painted. I feel like what they represent and their culture and history represents in Mexico, they could do something amazing with their trophy if they left it to the locals, to the country, not to a sponsor. There is a lot of room to personalise it and to make it iconic and special.
“I think Seb’s point that if you win an F1 race – I know he didn’t win on that weekend – but if you win, podium, whatever it’s a big achievement. And I think you want to be recognised with something that’s a bit more special than something generic that’s from a sponsor. I think they should be cooler.”
Ricciardo said the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association should encourage Formula 1 to address the matter. “I think it’s our place to do so. I think we all feel it and I don’t think it’s a big ask as well.
“I don’t want to be ignorant, I’m sure Heineken put a bit of money behind it and I know Santander did trophies and all that. But I think it’s definitely an opportunity for us to speak up about it.”
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Pedro Andrade
27th November 2019, 7:40
Well, at least these Heineken ones look like trophies, the Santander ones were absolutely terrible.
Pedro Andrade
27th November 2019, 7:43
And the Pirelli gorilla-trophies are also awful….
Jim (@sterling)
27th November 2019, 11:29
I totally agree with your comments and the sentiment of the article in general. The trophy is perhaps the most insignificant & least shown part of the GP advertising in general. After all, this whole event IS called “Grand Prize.”
Nick Harrison
27th November 2019, 10:59
I remember that each GP had its own trophy that was unique to the track i.e like Melbourne you get the steering wheel, Silverstone you get the nice gold trophy.
A bit nostalgic, but just look back at the past trophies that GPs used to give out and maybe have a modern twist to these historic trophies instead of these sponsored ones. Maybe give the sponsors as constructor trophies?
Jon Bee
27th November 2019, 11:28
I dread to think what Rich Energy’s Billy Storey might have come up with had he supplied any trophies.
Pedro Andrade
27th November 2019, 11:30
He would come up with absolutely nothing. Like his non-existent energy drink.
ColdFly (@)
27th November 2019, 11:32
A milk float ;)
PS some of the worst trophies were actually ‘pieces of art representing culture and history‘. I guess there will always be something to complain about.
socksolid (@socksolid)
27th November 2019, 17:08
I kind of like some of these. The sega trophy is kind of cool and most of them are okay. The hungary one is which is fully made of wood is a bit too cheap for trophy as it looks more like something you’d buy for 30€ at local beer festival than something you’d get winning a grand prix. The 2014 british gp plastic trash is pretty awful though and the 2008 brazilian one manages to be even worse. Considering those are even worse than the 2010 plastic company logo it is not that easy to come up with rules to ban the attrocious concepts because there seems to be many kinds of dirty and cheap.
Trayambak Chakravarty (@major-dev)
27th November 2019, 14:18
If they can care so much about a helmet rule, they could also care about the trophies or the actual “grand prizes”
FW11B (@fw11b)
27th November 2019, 14:47
Some sponsorship trophies are pretty.. I always fancied the Mobile trophy, a crystal horse, which was ususually handed ate the French and German GP. Same for the Fosters’ trophy at Australia. But I agree that sponsors could be more creative and inject local designs into the silverware..
F1oSaurus (@)
27th November 2019, 17:22
I agree with Riciardo and Vettel that helmet designs should be iconic and not just some generic design. Oh wait … this wasn’t about that.
Richard (@rick1984)
27th November 2019, 19:37
Im sure I remember Hamilton having a moan on the Silverstone podium a few years back when he got a sponsors trophy not the “kick-ass gold one”, which in itself is a sponsors trophy anyway
Stephen Higgins
27th November 2019, 20:50
Hungary has a pretty good trophy. Although I worry one year Lewis is going to drop it and smash it to smithereens.
John H (@john-h)
28th November 2019, 0:19
I’m reminded of Senna holding aloft Sonic the Hedgehog at Donington.
Balue (@balue)
28th November 2019, 17:22
I remember a good while back Michael Schumacher was handed one of the first iterations of those silly trophies that’s a plate made to look like an F1 steering wheel, and you could tell by the way he looked at it on the podium he was disgusted. So when he put it behind the podium during the champagne spraying, I had a feeling it was purposefully meant to be forgotten as a demonstration, and it was exactly what happened.
Fully agree with the call to sort out the trophies. Some places they even hand out wooden ones for gods sake..