Daniel Ricciardo selfie is why the world loves Aussie F1 star

Daniel Ricciardo may not be thriving on the track after his move to McLaren but in the paddock, he’s shown he’s the same old bloke.

Even when the results aren’t going his way, Daniel Ricciardo has shown once again that he’s the same larrikin Australia — and the world — knows and loves.

The Aussie F1 veteran claimed fourth in the rain affected Belgian Grand Prix after a hot qualifying lap for his best finish of the season but 2021 hasn’t been his year.

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Currently eighth in the driver's championship on 56 points, Ricciardo is 26 points behind Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc in seventh and 57 points behind his teammate Lando Norris, who is third in the championship.

While the Aussie is playing second fiddle to Norris in 2021 as he has found the transition to McLaren much more difficult that the world expected, the 200 race veteran has shown he is still the biggest personality on the grid.

Despite claiming 14th and 15th in the opening day of practice for the Dutch Grand Prix, Ricciardo was at his best in the paddock.

Williams tweeted a series of images with Ricciardo selfie bombing an interview Russell was doing.

Williams then said: “Show us the selfie, @danielricciardo” — and the Aussie obliged.

Cute. pic.twitter.com/djxrMlmZWc

— Daniel Ricciardo (@danielricciardo) September 3, 2021

Russell had a breakthrough race in Belgium, claiming his first podium thanks to the weather-affected race.

Ricciardo also showed that everyone loves him, hitching a ride with his former Red Bull teammate Max Verstappen on a Red Bull buggy and reposted a video.

Daniel Ricciardo hitchin' a ride. Photo: Instagram / danielricciardo

See, no matter how ugly his exit from Red Bull, they can’t help but love Danny Ricc.

But day one of practice was not great for Ricciardo who is still looking to get used to his McLaren ride.

McLaren team principle Andreas Seidl was forced to reject rumours of Ricciardo’s job being in jeopardy next season.

“No, not at all,” Seidl said. “First of all, we have a long-term commitment with Daniel.

“The speed Daniel is having and the experience here with us, we are working hard in order to, let’s say, make the next steps on his integration process.”

Ricciardo was 1.5 seconds off the pace in the first practice in 14th and 1.2 seconds off in 15th in practice 2 in Zandvoort.

The Aussie explained that it was a difficult track to get a read of, pointing out the turn at Hugenholz, which has seen drivers experiment throughout practice to find the right line.

“It’s not always the conventional line; sometimes you go high and you get the banking and it allows more momentum,” he said of the turn.

“It’s like motocross, where you can take the low line and you have less distance but you have less banking.

“So it’s what you like, what you prefer and how the car feels. I like having these options, and it’s a cool corner.

It’s why we love ya Danny boy! Photo by ANDREJ ISAKOVIC / AFP

“This morning I was relatively comfortable, this afternoon not so.

“We tried some things on the car that, in hindsight, I don’t think were the right direction.

“But, that’s what free practice is for. It made FP2 a little more tricky, but we’ll go back and learn from that.

“I think we’ll still be in good shape tomorrow, but today we were just a little bit off in FP2.”

Earlier in the week, Ricciardo was unsure of overtaking opportunities during the race and said “in quali, it’s going to be big kahunas.”

Never change Daniel!