Daniel Ricciardo’s problems in the Bahrain Grand Prix went beyond the problems with his MCL36; the McLaren driver was also physically affected by his episode with Covid.
Daniel Ricciardo was absent from the second day of Formula 1 pre-season testing in Bahrain on Friday after reporting sick on Thursday.
Daniel Ricciardo has FINALLY managed to ink former Renault F1 managing director Cyril Abiteboul after winning a bet last season. Several races prior to Ricciardo’s first podium for Renault at the Eifel Grand Prix, details of a wager between the Australian and his then-boss Abiteboul leaked. Put simply, stand on the podium and Abiteboul would get a tattoo. The size and placing Ricciardo later confirmed would be down to the Frenchman but the design would be of the driver’s choosing. Pressure mounted on Abiteboul to finally get inked after McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown faced his own fears as part of the annual ‘Industry Leaders’ Challenge’ begun by the Grand Prix Trust. Ricciardo always maintained Abiteboul was keen to hold up his end of the bet, and now the moment has arrived.
McLaren driver Daniel Ricciardo has revealed that he was forced to fuel save for half of Formula 1’s Qatar Grand Prix after a “system error”. After a disappointing qualifying which left him 14th on the grid in Qatar, Ricciardo hoped to bounce back on race day. Ricciardo failed to make any progress on the opening lap after going three-wide into the first corner with Charles Leclerc and Lance Stroll. The Australian’s race was thwarted by the amount of fuel-saving he had to do, costing him around two seconds per lap. Explaining the issue, Ricciardo said: “After the start we had fuel saving from super early in the race. I started doing what I thought was already a lot, and it was not enough. “So Tom [Stallard, his engineer] said you need to do more. It is not enough. To a point where at times we were losing two seconds a lap by fuel saving. And without the brakes get cold, the tires get cold, and you lose grip. It is a downward spiral. “So we were fuel saving for a good half of the race, and that took us way out. And then Tom said no more fuel saving. Maximum push. I’m only saying Tom because he is the one that feeds me the information, but it is clearly a system error today. It is a shame because when I could push the referenced time I was able to get… But we were at the mercy of error today with the reading.” Ricciardo believes it cost him a chance of scoring points in Qatar. “It is the most I’ve had to save and the earliest in the race that I ever had to save,” he added. “I think you guys could’ve driven a similar pace when I was fuel saving. I was coasting into every corner. “And it was never enough. I don’t know what happened to the system or if they got another reading, and then Tom said no more just push. “I’m going to look at the bright side and say I’m glad it did not happen in a podium position because that would have been the most painful thing ever. But it definitely took us out of a chance at the points.” McLaren boss Andreas Seidl didn’t have an explanation as to what caused the fuel issue as the team continues to investigate the issue. “On Daniel’s side, a good start to the race, unfortunately, he had a lot of fuel-saving, unexpectedly which compromised his race quite a lot and any chance to get back into the points,” Seidl explained. “It’s something that we need to analyse why this happened.”
McLaren driver Daniel Ricciardo is rumoured to have struck up a romance with aspiring actress Heidi Berger. The New York based beauty, 24, who is a student at New York University, is the daughter of Austrian F1 driver Gerhard Berger. Fans noticed the pair have been spending time together, with celebrity gossip site Deux Moi reporting that they recently celebrated Daniel’s 32nd birthday together in Austria. According to reports, they have been spotted together in New York in the past week, shopping and enjoying brunch, as well as entering a hotel. They were also seen together in a video where they were riding in a helicopter in St Tropez, a town on the French Riviera, back in June. Heidi is additionally believed to be the woman seen in an Instagram post shared by Daniel – in the image, he is jokingly flipping a woman off during a hike in Los Angeles, while concealing her identity with an emoji. Daniel is known for keeping his private life a closely guarded secret. His last public relationship was with long-term girlfriend Jemma Boskovich before the pair split in 2016. In 2018, it was reported that model Jessica Gomes, 36, was ‘discreetly seeing’ the Formula One driver. It comes after a TikTok star recalled a wild night she once shared in Ibiza with the racing driver. Sara Ayter described Daniel, as the ‘coolest human’ after he apparently invited her and two pals to a boat party upon meeting on the nearby island of Formentera in 2019. ‘We were taking pictures in Beso Beach, and three guys came up to us and said they were going back to Ibiza on their private boat and asked us if we wanted to join,’ she began. After enjoying a thrilling ride around the islands, the trio were then asked to join Daniel and his pals for a house party – and she started to believe he was famous thanks to seeing his ‘blue tick on Instagram’. ‘Then we ended up going to their house – it was the best house I’ve ever been to,’ she added. ‘We had drinks, we played games, we stayed over. The day after I was swimming in the pool and Daniel was the only one awake. I was cold and he asked me if I wanted his shirt, so I swam with his shirt.’ While there’s no suggestion that anything romantic happened between the pair, Sara was incredibly complimentary of how the star behaved towards her and her friends. ‘He was the entire time making sure we were alright. They were so, so nice. He was the coolest human,’ she said. ‘Daniel was the entire time dancing, making jokes, smiling. Like has a huge heart. Now we finally know who he is!’