Daniel Ricciardo is once again on the sidelines of the F1 circuit as he continues recovery after fracturing his left hand in Zandvoort last week. However, the Australian is by no means out of the limelight, following his latest antics on his official Instagram account, which have given way to fans going into a frenzy.
The AlphaTauri driver has chosen to burn bridges with his past, opting to unfollow his former boss, Zak Brown, on Instagram. Judging by the history between the two, the move comes as no surprise. Ricciardo was at the receiving end of some terrible treatment while in the Woking-based outfit, which eventually led to a rather disrespectful sacking. Ricciardo also broke ties with former coach Michael Italiano, who happens to be Yuki Tsunoda’s current coach.
Even though Ricciardo and Italiano are a part of the same camp, the Australian chose to end his ties with the coach after their long-time friendship ended with Ricciardo’s sacking at McLaren. The third person to make Ricciardo’s list was Nicholas Latifi. While the two drivers share no hard feelings, the move could just be an act of ‘cleaning up’ his ties with his past.
Fans have their say after Daniel Ricciardo unfollows his former team members
As soon as the news broke out about Ricciardo going on an “unfollow spree” on Instagram, fans quickly took to Twitter to express their shock and elation at the Australian taking steps to forget a tricky time from his recent past.
daniel doing an unfollow spree and getting his life together. good for him
— fer🪩 taybrina era (@RICC16RDO) August 29, 2023
One fan said Ricciardo unfollowing Brown was understandable. However, the rest of the lineup did not make much sense to them as they revealed Fernando Alonso had also made the cut.
zac is understandable, but michael, nicholas and nando??? what’s the tea???😳👀 pic.twitter.com/TXy6QE9g9F
— conni (@VERCAPLESS) August 29, 2023
While another shared her thoughts on the injured driver’s latest actions via a video message.
What do you think of the “Daniel Ricciardo Unfollow Spree of 2023”?? pic.twitter.com/qdYHeLJ1gw
— TRF Pod 🔜 Monza! (@TheRedFlags_Pod) August 30, 2023
Many fans were confused about why Latifi was also on the list of people unfollowed by the Australian driver.
Daniel is doing a timeline cleanse why did he just unfollow the goat latifi 😭😭
— Cherry🍒 (@RICCIARDO23) August 29, 2023
Daniel? has? unfollow? Latifi? WHAT??
— Wendy🇳🇱 || MV33 🧡 || 🏆 (@fedew33) August 29, 2023
Ricciardo was once warned not to trust Zak Brown
Despite handing McLaren their first GP win in almost a decade, Ricciardo faced an embarrassing time while wearing McLaren colors. The Aussie never spoke against his team despite their selfish behavior. The 34-year-old often faced blame for Oscar Piastri getting hate, but the always-optimistic persona never took offense over it.
After a tumultuous two seasons in Woking, Ricciardo faced an unexpected sacking a year before his contract was to expire, leading to massive outrage by fans. In the popular Netflix series ‘Drive to Survive,’ former Renault boss Cyril Abiteboul was shown speaking to Ricciardo as he said to the driver, “I told you not to trust Zak.” The McLaren boss asserts he kept the proceedings fair and transparent when replacing Ricciardo with Piastri.
