Daniel Ricciardo: When the Honey Badger Didn’t Eat for 40 Hours During a Crazy Diet Regime

From the outside,  Formula 1 drivers appear to be rock stars who have it easy and live luxuriously. However, the notion of F1 drivers not having to make sacrifices is a big misconception. Underneath that race suit is an athlete who trains just as hard as any other sportsperson but with a different goal. Renault ‘s Daniel Ricciardo revealed his diet and a crazy story when he once fasted for 40 hours.

Daniel Ricciardo and his insane diet

F1 drivers spend a considerable amount of training at the gym whether it is offseason or not. The primary goal of an F1 driver is to stay as light as possible. Having any extra mass is detrimental and affects the balance of the car. As a result, drivers eat and train with the aim of not putting on any weight.

However, being of lesser mass isn’t enough in Formula 1. Driving a race car for over 300 kilometers on the limit requires stamina and endurance. The mind-boggling G forces mean that drivers have to train hard to handle the same. Thus F1 drivers need to watch what they eat all the time and never skip a training session.

Daniel Ricciardo has a special diet and once went to extreme measures. The honey badger revealed an incident when he fasted for 40 hours and only survived on water. Speaking to F1’s Beyond the Grid podcast, Ricciardo said:

“ I did a 40 hours fast, I think it was last week and you can have only like water for 40 hours”

“ That was quite cool”

“Michael, [his trainer] he’s done some research on it and fasting can be quite cool to reboot your blood cells and all that”

“ When I was young I was very disciplined, then I started to be a bit more relaxed with it all as far as maybe diet went but then it probably got to a point where I was too relaxed”

“This fasting is a way to be disciplined again”

When asked how he felt after 40 hours of fasting, Ricciardo replied:

“ I was okay, I did a bit of training as well in the 40 hours, by then[after 40 hours] I was like, I’m gonna eat”

“You feel a bit low on energy but it’s fun!”

Even now, during the extended shutdown, drivers do not have the liberty of breaking free from their training regime.