Ricciardo compares himself to Leclerc: 'He experienced something similar'
F1 News
Since leaving Red Bull Racing, Daniel Ricciardo has arguably faced some challenges in his career. Nevertheless, for the Australian, it was not always easy at the Austrian team either. In an interview on The Red Flags podcast, the Australian explained the struggles he faced surrounding Monaco and how he believes Charles Leclerc also experienced the same feelings.
What happened to Ricciardo in Monaco?
Many F1 drivers dream of winning the Monaco Grand Prix before and during their career. For Ricciardo, it seemed that dream was to come true in 2016. However, this was not the case. The day before, the Australian secured his maiden F1 pole, but it all went wrong during the race. With a late decision being made over his tyres, his mechanics were not ready when he arrived in the pit box. This allowed Lewis Hamilton to overtake and win, with Ricciardo finishing second.
Nevertheless, the Australian got his redemption in 2018. He started on pole once again and was able to cross the line seven seconds clear of Sebastian Vettel, securing the team's first Monaco win since 2012.
After the race, the Australian celebrated in the pool, which he revealed was never the initial plan. "I knew that Mark Webber had done a front flip or back flip, and I'm an athlete, not a gymnast," the current VCARB driver said. "So I was like, if I try and do a flip, it's going to end bad. I'm not going to, it's just not going to be cool. It's going look like I've tried too hard basically, but there's this moment in Me, Myself and Irene where Jim Carey jumps off a bridge. So I felt at least in my head he kind of does something like that and like jumps in. That was the inspiration. And I was also just like, let's just do something silly. And at least, it looks like I'm not trying too hard to do something majestic, but in the end, this is the most majestic thing that ever happened in that pool," he explained.
How did Ricciardo feel after winning?
The former Red Bull driver then shared how, in that moment, another emotion takes over the excitement, "Relief was 100% the first word that comes to mind. And because of what happened in 2016, then as soon as this issue happened during the race in 2018, then you start thinking like silly stuff. But oh, am I destined to never fricking win this race? Like why are these forces against me for this?" he said.
For Ricciardo, he believes Charles Leclerc was the same after having many failed attempts at winning. Nevertheless, this year he was able to win his home Grand Prix for the first time, "When he won, I was just like, dude, I'm like happy for you. Like you finally did it. And I felt, yeah, I felt like he experienced something similar to me where it's like there's these kind of forces and it's even bigger for him. It's his home race," the Australian concluded.