F1 star Daniel Ricciardo reveals secret message on driver helmet

Aussie F1 star Daniel Ricciardo has revealed the message etched on his helmet, which had some speculating he was hitting out at critics as a result of speculation over his spot at McLaren.

Ricciardo has been the centre of speculation recently with plenty suggesting he might not see out his contact wth McLaren till the end of 2023 after a tough season to date.

WOW: F1 champ Max Verstappen's father slams 'disappointing' Red Bull move

SHOCKING: Mick Schumacher's car splits in two in horrific scenes at Monaco GP

The Aussie suffered yet another disaster at the Monaco GP when he finished 13th and outside of the points.

This was compounded after crashing in qualifying and starting back at 14th on the grid in a race famously hard for overtaking.

Teammate Lando Norris has garnered 48 of McLaren's 59 points in 2022 in a season rapidly slipping away from the Australian.

In Monaco, McLaren CEO Zak Brown's comments raised eyebrows on Ricciardo's future.

The McLaren boss said they weren't thrilled with Ricciardo's performances and hinted at his contract, which might have a get-out clause in place if results don't follow.

And Ricciardo also raised eyebrows when he raced with the acronym 'FEL' scribbled on his helmet.

This stands for 'F**k em all'.

Daniel Ricciardo clarifies 'FEA' acronym on F1 helmet

However, following the Monaco GP, Ricciardo has clarified that this was not a new addition to his helmet.

Ad he also suggested it wasn't directed at anyone specific.

“I put it on my helmet in 2018 [his last year with Red Bull] as well,” Ricciardo told F1i.com.

“I like to use acronyms to pump me up. It’s honestly not directed at anyone, it’s something that I’ve said for a few years, and it just kind of gets me in my happy place."

“So it reminds me to channel in and get into the zone.”

Ricciardo also signalled his intention to ignore the criticism and bounce back at the Azerbaijan GP this weekend.

And before this week's GP, McLaren team boss Andreas Seidl has jumped to the defence of Ricciardo.

Siedl said some of the reasons for Ricciardo's struggles were ongoing issues with the car, as well as an overly aggressive FP2 setup that contributed to the ill-timed off into the barriers.

“In general, Daniel says it himself, he still doesn‘t feel 100 per cent with the car, especially when it’s about pushing it to the absolute limit in qualifying,” Seidl said.

“He‘s up against a very strong teammate as well, with Lando, and if you put both things together, that’s the gap we are sometimes seeing.

“Barcelona, in the race, it was simply not possible for Daniel to do a better pace [than 12th]. That‘s something we had to analyse after the race, which we did.

“We found an issue on the car which gave us an explanation, which was important, then we learned from that.”

Click here to sign up to our newsletter for all the latest and breaking stories from Australia and around the world.