“There’s Some Real Sick B**tards…” Shoey Specialist Daniel Ricciardo Once Raised Serious Doubts Over Iconic F1 Celebration After ‘Hospital’ Scare

Daniel Ricciardo is a classic character of F1. Few can match Ricciardo’s passion for the sport. Ever so passionately, Daniel’s special shoey celebration has become famous in the F1 world. While the Australian does it only when he gets on the podium, there was a time when podiums came in plenty for the Honey Badger.

Back in 2017, Daniel Ricciardo was potentially at his peak and gathering a lot of success for Red Bull. While the RBR car had its limits, Ricciardo maximized the car’s potential to get as many podiums as possible. And of course, Ricciardo did his famous “Shoey” tradition on the podium.

Although when the podium frequency became high, Ricciardo tried to avoid the tradition. In the 2017 British GP press conference, Ricciardo stated his doubts about his iconic celebration.

He said, “I honestly didn’t plan on doing it [the shoey], in even Baku. I was like “Ah I won’t do it”, DC [David Coulthard] took my shoes off and then, [in] Austria, Martin [Brundle] was like, frothing for it! So… I was like, I feel like there’s some real sick b**tards around here!”

Lewis Hamilton too chuckled his opinion in saying, “The juice from the foot is not something I wish to drink. Especially someone else’s!”

The Aussie driver also cited the health risk involved in drinking from the shoe. He stated, “It’s risky back-to-backs [shoeys], it is. We all the podium guys could end up in the hospital for a week.”

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While Hamilton put forth his reservations, he did do a shoey with Ricciardo on the Imola podium in 2020. It was Daniel’s 2nd podium in 2020 for Renault and after a long while since his Red Bull days.

Daniel Ricciardo and His Classic Celebrations in F1

Daniel Ricciardo and his celebrations are quite distinctive, especially when he wins. While he has won races 8 times in F1, each one of these victories was enjoyed thoroughly by Daniel. The shoey is one of the popular elements in his post-victory celebrations.

And when he broke his drought of wins in Monza in 2021, it was crazy on the podium that evening. Ricciardo ensured his team boss Zak Brown and teammate Lando Norris also joined him, drinking champagne from the shoes. After all, it was his first win in 3 years and the first win for McLaren after 9 years.

Besides this recent celebration, the Honey Badger’s most memorable victory party happened in Monaco. After a herculean effort to win on the streets of Monte Carlo, Daniel and his team Red Bull went wild in their celebrations.

Just near the picturesque marina and the harbor, Ricciardo jumped into the swimming pool at the RB Energy station with unparalleled emotions. The victory tasted even sweeter for Daniel as he had missed out on the same about 2 years ago in the principality.

Watch This Story: Dramatic F1 moments in Monaco GP history feat. Ricciardo’s Redemption

It’s rare to see such passion in celebrating wins and successes. Though Ricciardo may want to win more, his ideal wish would be to win the championship and then initiate a similar passionate celebration. What do you think? Can we see a Ricciardo Redemption arc for his F1 career?