Ellen DeGeneres asks Daniel Ricciardo awkward question on live TV

Television icon Ellen DeGeneres couldn’t resist inquiring about what Daniel Ricciardo does when nature calls during a Formula 1 race.

It’s the question Daniel Ricciardo gets asked more often than you’d expect — what do you do if you need to tinkle during the middle of a grand prix?

The Australian driver appeared on Thursday’s episode of The Ellen DeGeneres Show ahead of the Mexican Grand Prix, and chatted with the talk show host about Netflix docu-series Formula 1: Drive to Survive.

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After discussing the show’s success, DeGeneres quizzed the 32-year-old about drivers’ demanding fitness requirements.

“Ya’ll work out like crazy,” DeGeneres said.

“I drive myself to work every day and I don’t have to do this. I mean I’ll do sit ups or whatever, but I don’t do what ya’ll are doing. Why do you have to be so fit?”

Ricciardo explained: “It’s intense. You’re right, a lot of people say, ‘Well why do you need to be fit? I drive my car to work every day and it’s a breeze’.

“The races are 90 minutes long … there’s what’s called G-forces and because we corner so fast, there’s like four or five Gs on our body, and that is a force which is trying to basically pull us out of the car.

“So we need a lot of core strength, neck strength to basically just hold on. And we can lose up to between eight to 10 pounds (3.5-4.5kg) in a race.”

Daniel Ricciardo of Australia has secured one podium finish in 2021 to date. Photo by Dan Istitene – Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images

DeGeneres couldn’t resist inquiring about what Ricciardo does when nature calls during an F1 race, which can last up to two hours.

“When ya’ll get out, you’re just soaking wet, sweating. That’s crazy,” she said.

“You don’t even have time to think, ‘I’m thirsty’ or anything like that. You can’t even think about that.

“And what if you have to pee? What if you drink before you get in the car?

Ricciardo laughed: “It’s a question we get asked a lot, ‘Have you ever peed in the car?’

“Everyone can relate to peeing, you need to relax. And it’s hard to relax driving at those speeds.

“I’ve never done it. If you have to go, you just painfully hold on until the end, but every bump, every little kerb you hit hurts.”

DeGeneres is a big fan of Drive to Survive and Ricciardo explained to her audience F1 is like a “travelling circus of speed and adrenaline”.

I didn’t know how much I loved Formula One until I started watching #DrivetoSurvive, now I can’t get enough of it or of @DanielRicciardo. pic.twitter.com/cVCa1iERKS

— Ellen DeGeneres (@TheEllenShow) November 3, 2021

The famous American TV star was also keen to understand how drivers adjust to things like jetlag given all the different countries they find themselves in week-to-week.

“Caffeine,” Ricciardo joked. “A little bit of melatonin to help sleep.

“But it’s hard. You try to adjust a little bit before you get to the destination. So maybe two or three days before your flight, you try to bring your bedtime maybe an hour earlier each night to try and slowly get into it.

“But fortunately because the sport is so intense and high adrenaline, we can normally operate pretty well with little sleep. That’s what I tell myself.”

Ricciardo is eighth on the F1 drivers’ standings with 105 points, trailing McLaren teammate Lando Norris by 44 points.

The Mexican Grand Prix is scheduled to get underway at 6am AEDT on Monday, November 8.

Originally published as Ellen DeGeneres asks Daniel Ricciardo awkward question on live TV