Lewis Hamilton Secretly Inspired Daniel Ricciardo’s Iconic 2018 Monaco GP Celebration

The F1 2022 season is taking us to the seventh race, which is all set to take place in the principality of Monaco. After the thrilling victory in Barcelona last week, Red Bull have a good chance to win the upcoming race as well. But thinking about the Austrians winning the Monaco GP always brings back memories of Daniel Ricciardo finishing P1 in 2018 and, more importantly, doing his belly flop celebration.

The Honey Badger is one of the best drivers, and we all saw him in his prime during his Red Bull years. In 2018, the Australian won the most prestigious F1 race, the Monaco GP. He started the race from the pole but had an MGU-K glitch after 28 laps. He was under immense pressure from Sebastian Vettel, who was P2. But despite all that, Ricciardo won the race and got the redemption for the 2016 Monaco Grand Prix.

After the iconic win in Monaco, the Aussie belly-flopped into a swimming pool to celebrate. It seemed like one of the crazy Daniel Ricciardo ideas as the former Red Bull driver is famous for some mind-blowing victory celebrations. However, it was the Mercedes’s Lewis Hamilton, who suggested the belly flop to Ricciardo.

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The seven-time world champion advised Daniel to do a belly flop to celebrate his epic Monaco win. Hamilton said, “Everyone does a backflip and a normal jump. You gotta do a belly flop!” Initially, Ricciardo was worried that it might hurt. But the fun-loving Honey Badger couldn’t resist the unique celebration, so he later did the dive in a pool.

Daniel Ricciardo wants to make a mark at the 2022 Monaco GP

The McLaren move didn’t go as planned for the Honey Badger. His young teammate Lando Norris outperformed Ricciardo in the 2021 season. And the young Brit is again doing the same this year.

Ricciardo did qualify ahead of Norris in the recent Spanish GP. But Lando made a comeback despite not being well and finished P8, while Ricciardo finished P12. The Aussie is unhappy with his current form but is looking forward to the Monaco GP and even plans to shine there.

Last year, Norris lapped Daniel in Monaco, but Ricciardo knows the taste of winning in the principality and he’s aware that winning Monaco GP is possible for him. Daniel said, “I have a lot of history with this race, so I’m’ hoping to make a mark in the MCL36 this year and score some points for the team.”

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It would be fascinating to see what Daniel Ricciardo has in store for us fans at the upcoming race. Do you expect the Honey Badger to win the Monaco race?