Amid the excruciating struggle Daniel Ricciardo had with McLaren back in the 2021 F1 season, the Italian Grand Prix win at Monza came like a fresh breeze for him. The Australian driver was so elated and happy after taking the checkered flag that he didn’t stop at anything. Not even drinking from Lawrence Barretto’s shoe to do the shoey, as revealed by the F1 presenter recently in Track Limits podcast.
The Honey Badger was in deep trouble that season. He just came to the team from Renault and things did not work out for him the way he wanted. He not only failed to cope with his then-teammate Lando Norris but also struggled with the car on numerous occasions.
Ricciardo failed to make it to the Q3 multiple times that season, but the Monza race was different. The race weekend started with the 34-year-old starting the race from P3 and then bagging the win. This was probably the reason why the 34-year-old resorted to limitless celebrations such as back-to-back shoeys.
Daniel Ricciardo drank from Barretto’s shoe to do the shoey
As Ricciardo won the race, he indulged in the trademark shoey that he always does after winning a podium. However, as revealed by Barretto recently, the Australian driver did the shoey again.
The then McLaren driver was called for an interview following the conclusion of the Monza race. There, Ricciardo did his second shoey. Talking about this, the F1 presenter said, “I had an alcoholic beverage in my shoe, one of the shoes that I actually wore.”
He went on, “Actually it happened to like, so I said to him, ‘Okay do you want to do shoey in my shoe?’ And he did it.” Following this, he further added, “He drank out of my shoe.” However, Ricciardo’s success was short-lived as he returned to the struggle phase following this.
Ricciardo’s struggle with McLaren
Ricciardo’s McLaren chapter in his career was full of struggles. Even though he had a decent season in the first year, the second one was even worse as he barely made it to the points in 2022.
In 2021, Daniel Ricciardo finished in P8 with 115 points and a win. In 2022, the Honey Badger had 37 points and finished in P11. Following that year, he was shown the exit door from McLaren and was replaced by his younger compatriot Oscar Piastri.
This played a very crucial role in shaping him as he struggled with mental health for quite some time. Nevertheless, he returned to Red Bull as their reserve driver in 2023 and now even got a seat in their sister team AlphaTauri alongside the promising Yuki Tsunoda.
