Daniel Ricciardo, Australian racing driving star who is currently competing in Formula One for the Renault F1 Team, has named the two races of which he is most proud, and when, in his words, “I earned some respect from some F1 legends.”
AllNews reports that the 30-year-old in a diary post on his social media channels recently, picked the 2012 Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka when he was racing for Toro Rosso and the 2014 German Grand Prix when he finished sixth, driving for Red Bull.
“I had Michael Schumacher all over me for the last few laps and held him off for 10th,” he wrote. “It was my first full year in F1, so not s****ing myself was big.
“I remember he came to me in the drivers’ briefing at the next race and complimented me for the way I’d defended. He didn’t need to say that, so that was cool.”
He continued:
“I felt like I hadn’t earned [Fernando] Alonso’s respect until that day,” he said. “I still had a point to prove with him. He came out of the pits behind me on fresher tyres and cruised past me on the straight but he left the door open, probably not expecting me to try to re-pass, so I went for it.
“We had this cat and mouse game after that for the next handful of laps and it was big to show him that I was prepared to put up a fight on inferior tyres while keeping it clean.
“He said some nice things about me afterwards, so I think he looked at me differently after that.”
READ ALSO: Formula 1: Ricciardo Open To Red Bull Return
Ricciardo is leaving Renault at the end of the year to sign for McLaren in 2021.
0 Comment(s)