Daniel Ricciardo claims Drive to Survive has made other sports stars say ‘sh**’ while commenting on F1

Daniel Ricciardo has always been vocal about the impact of 'Drive to Survive' on popularizing Formula 1 in the United States.

Daniel Ricciardo claims Drive to Survive has made other sports stars say ‘sh**’ while commenting on F1

Daniel Ricciardo (via Twitter)

Daniel Ricciardo is regarded as one of the most lovable characters in Formula One and for good reason too. The Australian is a talented F1 driver with 8 Grand Prix wins to his name, thus he definitely is a ruthlessly competitive racer on the tracks. But off of them, Daniel’s infectious smile has made him a media sweetheart, and he is also one of the most in-focus racers on the popular Netflix docuseries ‘Drive to Survive’ that deals with the paddock lives of the F1 racers.

Daniel has become so popular because of ‘Drive to Survive’ that he has been invited over to US talk shows to speak about the pinnacle of motorsports since Americans are more aware about NASCAR than F1. He has previously appeared on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, and he recently talked on Jimmy Kimmel Live too. But while commenting on the impact that ‘Drive to Survive’ has had on Formula 1’s popularity, he mentioned how other drivers now talk about the sport.

Our sport is really now well respected. I used to hate that when I was younger people would be like, 'Oh, you race cars, you just sit and drive, that's not a sport'. But now other athletes, including ones that I admire, are looking at us and going, 'S**t, what you guys do is pretty amazing'.
Daniel Ricciardo talked about how ‘Drive to Survive’ has made people aware of Formula 1, via Mirror.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/formula-1/daniel-ricciardo-netflix-red-bull-31730558?int_source=amp_continue_reading&int_medium=amp&int_campaign=continue_reading_button#amp-readmore-target

Daniel Ricciardo’s career saw some highs and lows in 2023

At 34 years of age, Daniel Ricciardo found himself without a regular racing seat in Formula 1 when McLaren decided to prematurely end their contract with him as they did not see his performance meet their expectations. The Australian was approached by Haas, according to the reports, but he demanded a whopping sum of $10 million per annum to drive for the American team which they could not shell out. Finally, Daniel settled for a reserve driver role at Red Bull for the 2023 season until a miracle happened.

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Daniel Ricciardo served as the Red Bull reserve driver for the first part of 2023 (via ABC)

Nyck deVries, the former Formula 2 Champion who was hired to race at AlphaTauri in 2023 was ousted mid-season because of performance issues. Then, Helmut Marko appointed Daniel to go back on the grid and race for Red Bull’s sister team, Scuderia AlphaTauri. And now, it has been confirmed that the Faenza outfit will be retaining Daniel in 2024 as well.

On the work front, Daniel Ricciardo has struck quite a camaraderie with his current teammate Yuki Tsunoda. The Japanese racer commented on how Daniel is a good reference driver for him, and he admitted there is a lot to learn from the experience Australian. In the 2024 season, it remains to be seen how Daniel and Yuki manage to perform for AlphaTauri.

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