'Make it happen': Daniel Ricciardo vows to hold former F1 boss to bet
Daniel Ricciardo's Renault days are firmly in the rear view mirror at this point, but the Australian F1 driver is determined to hold his old boss to a bet they made last season.
The Renault F1 team, which rebranded to Alpine for the 2021 season onwards, hadn't scored a podium since officially rejoining the category as a manufacturer in 2015.
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That changed in 2020 when Ricciardo drove his Renault to third in last season's Eifel Grand Prix at the Nurburgring - winning a bet he'd made with then team boss Cyril Abiteboul.
Abiteboul was to get a tattoo of Ricciardo's choice if the Aussie earned a podium last season, and Ricciardo revealed recently that he was yet to see payment.
In an interview with motorsport.com, Ricciardo revealed Abiteboul had gotten in touch to congratulate him on his recent. victory at the Italian GP - which reminded him of their unfinished business.
“I had an overwhelming number of emails, WhatsApp messages, and all of it, so I did see an email from him,” Ricciardo said.
“There was the topic of tattoos, so I’m still very optimistic we could get this done before the year’s out.
“Otherwise it’s obviously going to drag on and become old news, so I’m determined to make it happen.”
Ricciardo gets to choose the design of the tattoo, with Abiteboul given the mercy of choosing the size and placement.
The second of Ricciardo's two years with Renault was quite fruitful, with the Aussie driver snaring a second podium finish at Imola several rounds later.
Ricciardo's experience clearly helped the team, with former teammate Esteban Ocon going on to win the Hungarian GP earlier this year to snare a breakthrough F1 victory for the team.
Daniel Ricciardo receives Russian GP reprimand
Daniel Ricciardo, still on a high after his win in Italy two weeks ago, has been given a reprimand for impeding Aston Martin's Lance Stroll during qualifying for the Russian Grand Prix.
Stewards in Sochi, though, did not hand out a grid penalty for the Australian's offence in his McLaren on Saturday.
Obstructing an opponent can be punished by a three-place grid penalty, but Ricciardo escaped with just a reprimand after footage of the session and radio traffic were studied by race officials.
Race stewards noted in a statement that Ricciardo had taken immediate action as soon as he was aware of the Canadian's presence on a wet track and with heavy spray reducing visibility.
McLaren had warned Ricciardo, whose win in the Italian Grand Prix at Monza last time out was the team's first victory since 2012, that teammate Lando Norris was coming up behind him but were unaware that Stroll was doing consecutive fast laps and so said nothing about him.
The stewards deemed the situation bordered on "unnecessary impeding" but opted for a reprimand as the most appropriate penalty.
The reprimand was a first of the season for Ricciardo, who ended up qualifying fifth while Norris took his first pole in Formula One. Their team were given an official warning.
With AAP
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