Currently enjoying his winter break, Daniel Ricciardo is back to looking like the Ricciardo of old, given his performances with AlphaTauri in the latter half of 2023. Standing as a prime contender to replace Sergio Perez at Red Bull next season, it seems Ricciardo doesn’t have a lot to worry about other than keeping his performances up. However, in a recent conversation with Noel Miller, the Australian revealed his biggest insecurity while also claiming he has made his peace with it.
Pointing out his nose, the 34-year-old slyly claimed he wasn’t too proud of the size of his nose, bringing in his Italian heritage into the mix without wanting to hurt anyone’s sentiments. Apart from his smile and his carefree attitude, it is Ricciardo’s nose that sets him apart on the F1 grid, and the Australian has no complaints. Instead, he admitted to being completely okay with being famous for his recognizable nose.
“We were made, obviously, to look unique in ourselves, and we have to embrace that and be comfortable. That [the nose] is what makes me, me, and whatever your features are, make you, you. I’m totally okay with that.”
Despite almost always being in front of the cameras and his biggest insecurity being on display, the AlphaTauri driver adopts a positive attitude by portraying himself the way he is. If he wanted to, he could easily get the surgery done and reshape his nose to be more ‘in line’ with the others,’ but Ricciardo does not want to go down that road.
Daniel Ricciardo once labelled his looks as the determining factor for F1’s success
Back in February 2023, Ricciardo appeared as a guest on Stephen Colbert’s Late Show, where the host asked the eight-time Grand Prix winner the reason behind his sport’s incredible success in the American market. Initially wanting to come up with a serious response, Ricciardo succumbed to his witty nature and claimed it was his “good looks” that worked out well for the sport and led to them becoming a major hit in the US.
However, soon after, the former Red Bull driver attributed Netflix’s Drive to Survive to the success of F1 in America. Per Ricciardo, F1’s blowup in America was inevitable because they “do sports so well.” He was confident that once F1 penetrated the walls of America, it would only be a matter of time before it became big in the country.
