Daniel Ricciardo Reveals His Special Dream For America After DTS Turns the Honey-Badger Into a Cult Hero

The ‘Drive to Survive’ revolution changed the face of Formula 1 in The States. As it brought 70 million news fans on board because of the thrilling build-up, off and on-track drama, it also turned some existing entities into heroes. Guenther Steiner and Daniel Ricciardo are the prime examples of the same. Daniel Ricciardo, fondly known as the honey badger, became the most loved driver of recent times and his charm had everyone spellbound. Interestingly, he has also been spellbound by the American way of life.

Ricciardo’s popularity boomed so much that Red Bull took him on as the third driver who would be involved in promotional and ambassadorial roles for the Milton Keynes outfit. Owning a home in Texas, Daniel Ricciardo considers himself a part of America as well, and talking about his perception and love for the States, he dived into the “if I had a second life” explaining how he would lead it.

Talking ESPN Ricciardo said, “I do love the way the sport’s grown in the States. I just love how America does sport. If I had a second life, I’d love to go to college and play football, and do the American thing. So us kind of touching a little bit of the States now gives me a little bit of that. Something I would have liked to have felt in another life! I still get it quite a bit like, — you were great on that show! I feel like, ‘You know I’m not an actor right?’ But it’s still great. It’s hard not to love it.”

But, of course, every coin has two side. While this is a very honest and unexpected confession, Ricciardo also talked about his struggles and how he deals with it.

Daniel Ricciardo also got candid about his fans’ reaction to his good days and bad

Daniel Ricciardo is an 8x Grand Prix winner and was at one time considered a future world champion as he brought the fight to his teammate Sebastian Vettel (4x world champion). However, his decision to leave Red Bull and subsequent team hopping has not paid him well. Though he remains the only one in the past decade to win a GP for McLaren, the past few years haven’t been kind to him.

Talking about how people praise and criticize him, Ricciardo shared: “I’m sure a lot of people, my fans, F1 fans, whoever, have been saying, ”F—ing hell Daniel, pull your finger out, what the f— are you doing?’ That’s just part of this whole thing.”

Furthermore, the racer also tried to justify the opinions and even revealed how he doesn’t pay much heed to it. “I’m sure for a lot of them it comes out of a place of them caring and wanting me to do good. And then for some, they just have a negative opinion they won’t change. I tend not to read stuff about me. I’m generally not a big reader, but inevitably you come across stuff. But it’s one of those things. I perform at a few races and all of a sudden it’s ‘Daniel’s back’ or ‘Daniel’s in contention for this, or that’,” said the Australian driver, according to ESPN.

While social media has made it easier for critics to voice their unsolicited opinions, perhaps Ricciardo will to have to get back to consistency if he wants to shut the naysayers down. Coming from a 18th place finish at the Chinese GP and a three-place grid penalty going into Miami, do you think he’ll be able to show results? Tell us your predictions!