“You need to…relax”: When Daniel Ricciardo had to go through an ill-prepared interview on the Ellen Degeneres show

Formula 1 is often regarded as the pinnacle of motorsport. Daniel Ricciardo does his best to describe the level of fitness required to pilot an F1 car to an American audience.

While most of the world is savvy to F1 and the things surrounding it, one country is yet to be totally immersed into the culture in the United States. So this is why Liberty Media has been doing whatever it can do to try and penetrate the American market.

While the Netflix series Drive To Survive has given a considerable boost to viewership in America, other methods are also being used to promote the sport in that country.

Therefore, Daniel Ricciardo was booked on the Ellen show to talk about the sport and give American viewers further insight into the world of F1.

In his brief appearance on the popular show, the Australian driver spoke about the fitness requirements, which revolve around being a Formula 1 driver.

 

“It’s intense,” said the McLaren driver about the regime the drivers have to put themselves through to stay on top of their car. “The races are about 90 minutes long and because we go round corners so fast, there’s like 4 or 5 G’s worth of force trying to pull us out of the cars.”

“We need a lot of core strength, neck strength to basically just hold on.”

He also mentioned that the drivers lose around ‘8 to 10 pounds’ during the course of the race. 

Also read: Daniel Ricciardo admits to being oblivious towards certain aspects of his F1 car

Ellen’s writers forgot their own work for Daniel Ricciardo episode

Ellen DeGeneres, the host of the show then asked Ricciardo about what happens if the drivers need to go to the washroom during the race.

“What if you have to pee? What if you drink before getting in the car?”, she asked. Interestingly, this was a question which she had asked Lewis Hamilton 5 years ago when he made an appearance on the show. In fact, almost all of the questions asked in the interview were rehashed questions from the Hamilton interview.

Daniel Ricciardo, being the happy soul he is, obliged her with an answer but not before pointing out that this is a question which he has been asked ‘a lot’ by now.

“Everyone can relate to peeing. You need to…relax. It’s hard to relax driving at those speeds. I’ve never done it (peeing in the car) so you just have to painfully hold on till the end. But every bump, every little kerb you hit hurts.” 

DeGeneres then summarised the interview by talking about Netflix’s Drive To Survive. The fourth instalment of the hit series should be expected by the end of February 2022. Those who followed the 2021 season would already know to expect much drama with this installement.

Also read: Nikita Mazepin says Drive To Survive has exposed unknown weaker sides of drivers