Daniel Ricciardo again stars in Netflix documentary series Drive to Survive
Daniel Ricciardo is Aussie through and through and has shared his appreciation for Netflix in one of the true bluest ways possible.
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Netflix’s F1 documentary Drive to Survive could just follow Aussie superstar Daniel Ricciardo and he’d give more than enough content for the 10 episode series.
The undoubted star of the first series, who had his monumental decision to move on to Renault broken down in minute detail, was arguably the most watchable driver.
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The start of the new series also details the move to Renault and how it’s changed his life.
But while F1 fans know the season didn’t go to plan, no one can stop Ricciardo’s larrikin tendencies from shining through.
While he often shares his personality in interviews and on social media, he was also on for Netflix’s cameras, dropping a brutal sledge that was picked up by Netflix UK and Ireland.
The team tweeted a pic of Ricciardo saying “Netflix are a real bunch of ***** aren’t they? I’d love them to play that.”
Your wish was their command Dan.
your move, @danielricciardo pic.twitter.com/7zC6mLLKhB
— Netflix UK & Ireland (@NetflixUK) February 28, 2020
But in response, Ricciardo said the use the explicit language was a term of endearment — you know, Straya!
“Where I’m from this basically means you’re ok and I’m happy to spend more time with you,” Ricciardo tweeted back.
Where I’m from this basically means you’re ok and I’m happy to spend more time with you. https://t.co/wlyXpnwoGR
— Daniel Ricciardo (@danielricciardo) February 28, 2020
Oh don't worry, we know. We have to work with @NetflixANZ.
— Netflix UK & Ireland (@NetflixUK) February 28, 2020
It’s top banter as the new series of the Netflix show was released on Friday night.
Ricciardo said earlier this month when on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah that the previous series put the sport on the map in the US.
“I definitely feel F1 is becoming much more of a thing here in the States. Drive to Survive put it on the map.
“I spend a bit of time in the States, and up until a year ago, not really anyone would say ‘Hi’ to me – not in a bad way, but they wouldn’t recognise me for being an F1 driver.
“And now it’s all: ‘We saw you on Netflix, it was great, Drive to Survive.’ We wear helmets, so not many people can see our faces a lot of the time. Putting a face to a name, that helped.”
And for those who weren’t keeping up with Ricciardo’s landing at Renault in the off-season, the show goes behind the scenes on his early days at the French team, including tearing the scab off the Red Bull wound in the first episode.
When I signed with Renault, a lot of people probably didn’t understand it,” Ricciardo said in the documentary. “And maybe some still don’t.”
F1 journalist Will Buxton said “no one saw it coming”.
“It was a massive, massive shock. Right up until about a week before it was announced, Christian Horner was absolutely, 100 per cent sure Daniel wasn’t going to go anywhere.”
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner also added that he believed Ricciardo wasn’t willing to battle for the number one position in the team.
“When he rang to say I’m going to go to Renault, first of all, I thought it was a wind up,” Horner said. “He couldn’t really give me any reason. But with Max Verstappen as a teammate, my assumption was that he was running a little bit from a fight.”
But Ricciardo defended himself.
“I, personally, wasn’t running from anything,” he said. “I still want to achieve the world title and to do that, I just felt like I needed a change.
“Once I signed on the dotted line last year, moving to Renault, working with new people, it just increased every bit of motivation and passion I had. For sure there I felt a bit of love, that was the coolest thing, I noticed that straightaway.
“I want to do great things here and I want to feel like this is a place where I can, A, obviously be happy but, B, become a world champion.”
While his first year didn’t come off as planned, Ricciardo has been showing strides in 2020 already, finishing the final testing day in third overall.
With the Melbourne Grand Prix now two weeks away, Ricciardo is showing plenty of good signs for a positive season.
Originally published as Daniel Ricciardo again stars in Netflix documentary series Drive to Survive