Daniel Ricciardo began his career in Formula 1 in the 2011 season with the HRT team. In his entire career, the Australian has only been able to score 8 Grand Prix wins.
He was one of the top drivers of the Red Bull F1 team in the late 2010s, but a couple of decisions landed him in a conundrum.
His career trajectory saw him fall down the ladder and race his two worst seasons in F1 with McLaren until it all bubbled up and he left the sport saying that a break from the sport would do him good.
Although, a lot happened behind the screens that led to Ricciardo’s sudden departure from the sport. The Honeybadger was asked what was the toughest race of his career in an ESPN podcast Unlapped by fans.
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Daniel Ricciardo hoped for engine failure
Ricciardo has had 232 race starts in his F1 career so far and only 8 of them converted into wins. The Australian revealed the toughest race of his career was the Singapore GP in 2011.
He described that particular race as misery. It was his fourth or fifth F1 race at the time because he had joined the team halfway through the season.
He had not anticipated how hot and physical the races in Singapore could get and it was a two-hour race. Ricciardo explained that he had also broken his wing in the first lap and was almost a lap down.
He was hoping for the race to end soon or for the engine to fail. But after that Ricciardo started putting more focus on his training sessions.
Ricciardo explains the benefits of Shoey
Whenever the Honeybadger would make it to the podium, he does a shoe and the other drivers on the podium have to do the same.
Lewis Hamilton once stated that drinking champagne from the shoe is not a great experience. Even Nico Rosberg disgruntledly said that he hopes Ricciardo does not make it to any more podiums so as to not drink the juice from the foot.
But Ricciardo put a fun spin on the matter by saying that the taste is quite salty and the drivers do crave salts after the race because they are dehydrated. “So I am kind of helping my competitors which is admirable. It’s noble,” he added.
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