At the British GP weekend, Oscar Piastri showcased his Aussie roots in front of the Silverstone crowd when he performed a shoey. However, as it turns out, the Melbourne-born driver didn’t particularly want to do it out of respect for former McLaren driver Daniel Ricciardo.
The Honey Badger made the shoey his trademark celebration on the F1 podiums, but it had been a while since the crowd saw it. Interestingly, Ricciardo’s last shoey came for McLaren when he won the Italian GP in 2021.
However, in Silverstone, the crowd wanted Piastri to emulate a tradition Ricciardo made famous. In an interview with TalkSport, Piastri admits that it was “Daniel Ricciardo’s thing“, and that the only reason he did the shoey was to compensate for the other things that went wrong that weekend. He said,
“I had to do something to cheer us up. I think we were a bit disappointed immediately after the race, so… that would be a good way to lift the spirits.”
Oscar on doing the shoey:
“I mean, it was Danny Ric that really started that for everyone. It’s just by association, being Australian, really. I didn’t really want to continue it on; that’s Danny Ric’s thing. But last year, the peer pressure got the better of me, and this year… pic.twitter.com/0nH5SPPGvW
— did oscar score points in f1 today? (@oscarpiastri81) July 18, 2024
Piastri was referring to the missed opportunity for McLaren to register a race win in Silverstone, either through him or his teammate Lando Norris. The latter too, played a part in the shoey celebrations, something Piastri had in mind since last year.
Why Piastri made Norris do the shoey
Piastri revealed that in 2023, Norris made him do the shoey without following suit. That’s why this year, the Australian came prepared to make the Bristol-born driver taste champagne out of a shoe.
“I had to get Lando involved because last year he made me do it and didn’t do it himself,” said Piastri. “So he was not getting away unscathed this year.” Safe to say that Ricciardo didn’t mind Norris and Piastri carrying forward his tradition.
But at the same time, it wouldn’t be a surprise if he felt a tinge of envy, considering the fact that he hasn’t been able to celebrate a podium himself for almost three years now. Ricciardo is currently driving for Red Bull’s sister team V-CARB, hoping to impress the bosses and become Max Verstappen’s teammate in the upcoming campaign.
