Victorious Daniel Ricciardo in a class of his own

STAFF and students at Newman College in Perth are proud to see former student Daniel Ricciardo win his first F1 Grand Prix.

Principal Bernie Boss, with Newman College students in Perth yesterday, is proud to see former student Daniel Ricciardo win his first F1 Grand Prix. Picture: Marie Nirme

THE fastest car at Perth’s Newman College is teacher Racquel Carver’s Chrysler Crossfire, and the Year 7s who eye it from the schoolyard know very well that it can reach a top speed of 260km/h under test conditions.

“We all like fast cars a lot,” says Dylan Read, 12. “We just talk about how they look and what they can do.”

Yesterday, the Year 7s’ lunchtime conversation turned, not for the first time, to former student Daniel Ricciardo and his car, the Renault-powered RB10 — it can reach 330km/h. “His car is really good, different to last year and better,” said Dylan, a novice go-karter.

Ricciardo’s maiden Formula One victory in the Canadian Grand Prix was the talk of Perth yesterday. His grandmother, Jose­phine Ricciardo, 80, charmed radio listeners with praise for the “always smiling” 24-year-old. “He is a very, very honest boy,” she told ABC radio.

Mrs Ricciardo, who lives in Perth’s north, where Ricciardo grew up, said she had missed him since his talent and career took him away, but “this he wants to do … We feel sad because he’s so far from the house, but this is the story for him.”

Like the students who now look up to him, Ricciardo had an early fascination with powerful cars. His father, Joe, had a trucking business that helped build the teen’s knowledge of motors. By the time he was in Year 12 at Newman College, Ricciardo was often absent for go-kart meets around Australia.

He did his schoolwork on the road and said nothing when he returned to class as national champion in 2006. Teacher Bernard Willett said: “He was so humble about it, I had no idea he was this racing champion.”

It was at Newman College that Ricciardo met his partner Jemma Boskovich, his date at his Year 12 school ball.

While Newman College’s most accomplished graduates include Nobel Prize winner Barry Marshall, the school’s principal, Bernie Boss, knows it is Ricciardo’s path from the Catholic school in Perth’s west to international fame as a Formula One driver that is especially exciting for the kids. He was “a very down-to-earth, unassuming, lovely kid”.

“We are proud and excited by Daniel’s achievements, of course, but we are proud, too, that he has not changed in that basic sense,” Mr Boss said.

He’s right. The former student certainly wasn’t exhibiting any hubris after the win. “I’m shocked — this is ridiculous,” he said.