Daniel Ricciardo says the importance of having a competitive car is what he dislikes most about Formula 1.
He won seven races at Red Bull between 2014 and 2018, but didn’t finish on the podium once in his first season with Renault last year. Speaking on The Daily Show, Ricciardo said the need to have a competitive car is “probably the one thing I dislike about my chosen profession.”“Unfortunately, it’s not like tennis where you can only blame the racquet so much,” he said. “There is a lot of equipment, it is very equipment-dependent. But that’s the sport and then your job is to try and put yourself in the best team to give you the best equipment.
“It’s like a technology battle with the manufacturers, it’s crazy. I think to get on the grid, and there’s 20 drivers, that’s obviously an achievement in itself. But then you obviously want to be the best and get yourself to the top.”
Ricciardo, who featured prominently in Netflix’s Drive to Survive series last year, promoted its upcoming second season during his appearance on the American talk show. His laid-back, joking style plus the narrative of his departure from Red Bull made him a stand-out character in the series.
Asked why he approaches his media engagements less seriously than his rivals, Ricciardo joked “I think those others that are a little bit like that, they don’t help the sport.”
“I think for me, growing up in Australia, growing up with sunshine, living close to the beach, it kind of just turns your personality into a bit of happiness,” he said.
“I’m doing my dream job and you have to be reminded, sometimes you get so competitive and so caught up in it that you do forget like a little bit of perspective. It is my dream job, I travel the world to drive cars in circles, which is pretty awesome.”
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NewVerstappenFan (@jureo)
11th February 2020, 8:33
Love and Hate of all F1 fans.
We love the speed of the cars, yet we want them to be all at same speed, so we get competitive racing. But then spec series are 5-10 seconds slower per lap.
Geez. Drivers like Ricciardo have just 0 chance for championship next year, we know well in advance Renault will not be in the mix. easy to hate this.
Islander
11th February 2020, 8:43
Midfield drivers talking up themselves. That’s another thing to dislike a little bit.
JC Case (@jccase)
11th February 2020, 8:48
I do love this site and it´s been the my go-to F1 site for years, but ffs Keith, this story has been around almost every copy-paste site since that interview on the Daily Show was made
You must know that Dieter wrote a good article about sites stealing, or as in this case rehashing old news less than a week ago, so why are you doing the dreaded rehashing thingy too?
Rhys Lloyd (@justrhysism)
12th February 2020, 2:20
@jccase pulling from a TV interview is different from pulling from another news article.
Also, some of us don’t read the copy-paste sites so wouldn’t have seen this interview otherwise.
Although it does feel more like a feature in a Round-Up rather than a dedicated article.
Only Facts!
11th February 2020, 9:24
You must watch the interview to understand Ricciardo’s mood. He wasn’t complaining or criticizing, but rather being informative to the USA audience. Something probably the PR guys instructed him to do.
Like “we have the fastest cars on the planet” “fastest cornering speeds” and so on.
Maybe a touch of “I have the talent but not the gear” moment for himself.
Very light mood and interview run smoothly. He’s made for TV shows. Jumping into the”unknown” leap of faith in Drive o Survive 1 anyone?
Him and Steiner were born to do this.
Jimmi Cynic (@jimmi-cynic)
12th February 2020, 8:35
Yeah… Steiner is a little bubbly bit of sunshine. Perhaps one photon’s worth.
Tim
11th February 2020, 9:35
Welcome to Formula E then, where the car doesn’t matter at all.
P1drifterr
11th February 2020, 10:29
Neither does the championship…
Bruno Verrari
11th February 2020, 11:50
Be as good as MadMax, go to FE for the same money – or shut up and enjoy, while you can!
Edvaldo
11th February 2020, 13:02
Oh yes, like “Madmax” doesnt complain about not having equal equipment to Hamilton every single time he says his name.
DAllein (@)
11th February 2020, 14:20
Go to FE, Indycar, or start Super Dario Kart…
GtisBetter (@)
11th February 2020, 17:13
You are not allowed to dislike things?
DAllein (@)
12th February 2020, 11:28
When this “thing” is the main tool\feature\trait of your job, and you don’t like it – then you are definitely, undoubtedly, in the wrong place.
It is true for each and every activity or job – car racing, software engineering, gardening, collecting\playing model trains…
Best way to fix this is to quit and move elsewhere, where this “thing” is different.
Pironi the Provocateur (@pironitheprovocateur)
11th February 2020, 14:57
Can you blame him? Twelve years ago the cars were spread within 1.2 – 1.4 seconds and someone losing 2 seconds in quali was literally tragic. Nowadays we celebrate a midfield team which gets into 1.5 second gap to the pole lap. F1’s never been so cemented in terms of overall power.