Daniel Ricciardo overcomes rocky start in F1, morphs into Red Bull star

THE Formula One star is older and wiser after the shock decision.

Australian F1 driver Daniel Ricciardo waves a US flag in Austin, Texas, during a parade for the US Grand Prix.

WALK a while with the beautiful people. Stroll through Formula One. The garments of splendour. The garages resembling temples to Mercedes-Benz and Red Bull. To Ferrari and McLaren. Italian women in their flame-red Ferrari suits have slim cigarettes hanging from the sides of their pouting lips. They’re nearly as glammed-up (and stuck-up) as the chain-­smoking Scuderia men.

Out to the paddock. The paddock is where the drivers hang with the VIPs. The paddock is where the miniskirt-wearing, ­lipstick-drenched grid girls appear to have been transported straight from Robert Palmer’s Addicted To Love videoto hang with the drivers. We ain’t sayin’ she’s a gold ­digger.

What a scene. Robbie Williams strolls past. How’s it hangin’, old sport? No comment. Jennifer Lopez wanders through. Getting your backside trackside? No comment. It’s all so conceited and vainglorious that it should be appalling but it’s all rather intoxicating and agreeable. The beautiful people smile and they blow smoke rings in your face.

“Different world, eh?” grins Daniel Ricciardo. He’s inside the Red Bull hospitality tent at the Singapore Grand Prix. It’s surprisingly low-rent in here. Dinner is being served like slops in an army barracks. Get your own, basically. Sebastian Vettel is alone. There’s no wall around him but somehow, there’s a wall around him. Ricciardo is an open book but he’s also a closely guarded sponsors’ product. Red Bull’s media representative insists in sitting in on the interview. She will tap her watch when the allotted time has expired. Ricciardo squirms. “Sorry,” he says. “Pretty formal. Let’s do it.”

Ricciardo has the vibe of a university student playing a year-long prank. The given is that he’s a cheeky bastard, tossing the BBC microphone in the air like Tom Cruise juggling bottles of tequila in Cocktail. The shock is that he’s also a bit shy. To the nitty gritty, champion. To your disqualification from the Australian Grand Prix. To the podium finish a bloke is having when he’s not really having a podium finish. Ricciardo has a fondness for a certain expression of delight: holy crap! Last September, when he was announced by Red Bull Racing boss Christian Horner as the driver to replace Mark Webber — holy crap! His team debut was at Albert Park this year. In qualifying, he briefly held pole position after a scintillating lap in pissing-down rain at Albert Park.

The following day, revheads going off their noggins in the crowd, Ricciardo came second to Nico Rosberg. This was heady stuff. He flexed his biceps on the podium. Flashed the grin people never shut up about. Applauded the tens of thousands people ­applauding him. He pumped his left fist. He blew a thousand kisses. He received a wonderful trophy: a replica of Brabham’s steering wheel from when Jack was winning world titles in his Cooper. Ricciardo took a giant swig of champers. And then ... Oh, crap.

“I didn’t know there was ­trouble until we were doing the race debrief,” he says. “It was probably about 2½ hours after the race before I knew something was wrong. I was shown the letter from the FIA that said we were under investigation and I was like, ‘You have got to be kidding me’.

“I had half of Western Australia there. I’d just been on the podium. It was everything I thought it was going to be. It was such a big deal to me, that day. The crowd was un­believable and everything had pretty much gone right for us. Then the letter came out.

“It became really hard to enjoy anything after that.”

Red Bull’s garage had broken F1’s allowances on fuel consumption. “I really didn’t know what to do,” Ricciardo says. “Like, I’m not second any more? I’m still second? What’s going on? I hung around the track for about an hour, maybe longer, for someone to tell me the decision.

“I was still kind of stoked because it had been a massive day, but something like that happens — you’re in a bit of shock, I guess.

“It was about 11 o’clock when I thought you know what, I’m leaving. I told them all, see you later, I’m going for a beer. I’m going back to the hotel. I didn’t even care any more. Whatever happened would happen.”

Ricciardo was halfway through his first cleansing ale.

“I got the call from Christian to say that yeah, I’d been disqualified,” Ricciardo says. “It was probably about midnight by then. I remember exactly what I thought. I thought, well, that sucks. It wasn’t the best feeling I’ve ever had in the world.

“We would’ve been getting stuck into a pretty decent party if I’d stayed in second. I had a few friends staying at our hotel and my family was in town. We were ready to go. We can throw a pretty good party in F1. But it all went flat.

“We just had a really quiet one at the hotel. It was all a bit confusing so we thought we should keep it low-key.

“Then the next day at the hotel, there were cameras everywhere and it started to sink in. It was all pretty strange. I’d never had that many cameras follow me around the streets like that. So weird.

“There was all that attention but it was happening for the wrong ­reasons. I was being followed because something bad had happened. All of Monday was weird. There was all the hype about it and I was probably in a bit of shock. On the Tuesday, I was over it. There had been a technicality that was out of my control. So what? I could still tell myself I’d done well. I’d raced well. I still had a lot to be proud of. I’d gotten the podium jitters out of the way. There was still a long season ahead of us. There were a lot more races and podiums coming up. That’s what I had to keep telling myself.

“It probably stirred up a bit of the animal in me.”

Six months later, picking at his army-barrack slops on the eve of a Singapore Grand Prix that would make or break his world championship campaign, Ricciardo had three GP wins on the resume. Was he living the dream? He supposed he probably was, but then he added the rider: “The dream isn’t really what you think it is.”

Qualifying for the US Grand Prix starts tonight at the Circuit of The Americas in Austin, Texas.