F1 | Daniel Ricciardo on not paying much attention to technical and mechanical side, instead focusing on the driving and how he was overawed by F1 when he first joined
Ricciardo explained how he prefers to concentrate his energy on the driving side of the sport and not paying much attention to the technical side, an approach he says has worked well for him, while also talking about how it can be overwhelming to reach F1.
After the 2021 season ended, the Australian driver was able to go back home, but he had to undergo a mandatory two-week quarantine to enter his home country. While in there, he did not lose much time as he seized the opportunity and recorded a 4-hour podcast: the Gypsy Tales podcast with Jase Macalpine.
In the 246-minute-long podcast, Ricciardo explained how his approach has worked well for him in the top tier of motorsport.
"It's funny because my mates will say, 'Dude, you are driving these multimillion-dollar cars', with the most technology - the most advanced machinery, pretty much, in the world," Ricciardo said.
"Yet, you might [just about] know how to change a spark plug. You might know how to take off your tyre, but I like that! I like not really knowing a whole lot. I like investing more of my energy into the driving and I like just being a little bit blase about it all.
"It makes me approach it with a bit more of a carefree attitude and I think that helps me [to] drive better, perform better and take the pressure off it."
He was also asked where he feels his strengths are, Daniel told the podcast host that he feels he is very good at getting accurate information from the car back to his team.
"Where I'm good with my driving, [it's] feedback," he said.
"I think I'm really good at feeling what the car does and relaying that back to the team. So that's probably as technically sound as I get but, otherwise, yeah, I'm not really one [for that]."
The honey badger continued to explain that it is easy to be overwhelmed by Formula 1, and that he had to work hard to not be overawed back in 2011 when he joined the sport. He admitted that he felt a bit moved when he realized how big his achievement of making it into the pinnacle of motorsport.
"It was hard coming from Australia, getting into F1 and that world. I'm sure there are many parts around the world which are pretty disconnected from it, and Perth is certainly one of those," he explained.
"F1 was on a pedestal, I was in awe of it. And, a few years later, I'm there. [Michael] Schumacher is on the grid and these guys that I've literally idolised as a kid. And I was in awe of it. I was like, 'How did I get here?'.
"Some people from six years old, they probably have this crazy talent, and maybe they have an idea that they're gonna make it. I was obviously good, but I wasn't dominating, and there was no real signs or early signs to tell me that I was going to make it," Daniel said.
He went on to explain that it took a minute for it to sink in that the drivers he was racing against, the ones he idolized on his way to F1, likely felt the same way and that it took him a while to humanize his rivals.
"I was definitely a bit overwhelmed by it, at first," he added.
"It was a bit of a learning process to try to get comfortable with it and, ultimately, believe in myself that I belong there.
"I just had to trust in myself that I got there for a reason. Although it's Schumacher, Alonso, Raikkonen, whoever, they still had to go through the same path. You try to humanize everybody around you to make them not seem so superhuman."
