‘I have no idea’: Daniel Ricciardo’s surprising F1 admission

Daniel Ricciardo is renowned as one of the most talented drivers on the F1 grid, making his latest revelation even more surprising.

Daniel Ricciardo admits he doesn’t know much about F1 cars. (Photo by Bryn Lennon/Getty Images)

Daniel Ricciardo has once again proven he is one of the most talented drivers on the Formula One grid.

The Australian has eight Grand Prix wins to his name but has revealed he knows “the best part of nothing” about the technicalities of how an F1 car works.

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Now at his third F1 team, Ricciardo has had plenty of experience with different types of cars, after he started his career with Red Bull, then switched to Renault for a two-year stint before moving across to McLaren.

By his own admission, the 32-year-old struggled in the opening half of his first season with the British-based outfit.

Prior to the mid-season break, Ricciardo was being regularly outclassed by his younger teammate Lando Norris and his best result was fifth at the British Grand Prix.

He labelled his season with McLaren the most challenging of his career and set about improving his form, spending a significant amount of time on the simulator to try and get used to his MCL35M.

Ricciardo admits he doesn’t know all that much about F1 cars. (Photo by Rudy Carezzevoli/Getty Images)

Ricciardo also made a concerted effort to take a break from F1 during the mid-season August break in an effort to clear his head and start afresh.

It’s been a masterstroke for the Perth native, who has clearly turned a corner with McLaren in the four races since the break.

He produced a stunning performance to claim his first win since 2018 at the Italian Grand Prix and also turned in solid fourth-placed finishes in Belgium and Russia.

The only blemish has been an 11th-placed finish at the Dutch Grand Prix, where both McLaren drivers had issues with their cars and Ricciardo nearly didn’t get out of first gear on the starting line.

Now Ricciardo has made the intriguing admission he knows next to nothing about the technical ins and outs of an F1 car.

“Technically with Formula One and the car, I understand probably the best part of nothing,” he told Party Casino.

“Yeah. Not ashamed to say it.”

Gesturing towards his McLaren at its headquarters in Woking, he said: “I have no idea what I’m looking at.”

F1 cars can be tough beasts to tame. (Photo by Bryn Lennon/Getty Images)

“My job is to drive, and that’s it. So I then just put all my energy into that.”

Ricciardo revealed his knowledge with normal everyday vehicles is just as rudimentary and his friends tease him for not being able to fix basic issues with a car.

“My friends give me a hard time because they know if we’re on a highway and our car breaks down, they’ve got a better chance at fixing the car than I do,” he said.

“They’re like, ‘You drive the most sophisticated cars in the world, yet, you know nothing.’

“So I’m kinda proud of about that. I’m good.”

In the modern world of F1, the steering wheels on the cars feature countless colourful buttons and resemble a video game console.

But Ricciardo, who is renowned in the paddock as the “last of the late brakers”, prefers to rely on his instincts to adapt in a race rather than constantly tinkering with the settings on the car.

“If you’re a driver that overthinks a lot and is maybe a little bit OCD, maybe you’re changing settings every corner,” he said.

The Honey Badger has turned a corner in the second half of his first season with McLaren. (Photo by ANDREJ ISAKOVIC / AFP)

“You’re like, ‘Oh I need that now, and that now, and now the tyres are changing so I need to do this’.

“So you can kind of use the wheel to that extent or you can just adapt through your driving a bit more and not worry about changing so much.”

But despite his self-professed lack of technical expertise, Ricciardo insists he has a more than adequate handle on how his car and steering wheel functions.

“I would say my record is pretty good,” he said.

“My memory of the wheel is pretty good. I don’t forget too many things. But yeah, there are sometimes where I have to ask, ‘Can you repeat that’ or ‘Whereabouts is that’.

“I guess that’s what you get for changing teams, you know, in the last few years quite a few times. So serves me right!”

The F1 season resumes at the Turkish Grand Prix early next Monday morning (AEDT).