The concept that Formulation 1 drivers sit behind a velvet rope and look down on the IndyCar Sequence has been a speaking level for some time. American racing driver Conor Daly has stated that the collection deserves “extra respect from over there.” So, when Daniel Ricciardo joined him on his Pace Road podcast forward of the one hundred and tenth operating of the Indianapolis 500, the query was rapidly requested.
The eight-time grand prix winner was fast to dismiss the suggestion that F1 drivers look down at their oval-racing colleagues.
“Yeah, there’s positively respect for it,” he stated. “There was by no means a dialogue like, ‘we’re the very best, F1’s this, we’re up right here’ – like no. As a child certain, for me F1 was the place I wished to be, and I used to be a fan of [Ayrton] Senna and all of that rising up, in order that was an enormous a part of what I wished to do.
“Nevertheless it was by no means like, we’re right here and everybody else is there. I believe once you get to a stage, what’s concerned in racing.”
The hierarchy that fanbases assemble on-line actually is not the one working throughout the paddock. Ricciardo continued: “There’s positively not a ‘we’re cooler than you guys’ – there’s none of that. And at the very least I by no means skilled that. I believe all of us simply finally love racing, and also you guys do a really completely different self-discipline – particularly clearly the oval stuff in comparison with the circuit racing, what we do with a ton of downforce and all that. Nevertheless it’s completely different.”
Again in 2022, the Australian was clear that oval racing scares him. “F*** that,” he stated. “Ovals scare me.”
Daniel Ricciardo & Max Verstappen, Crimson Bull Racing
Picture by: Andy Hone
Nothing has modified since.
“Yeah, I believe you stated Max [Verstappen] stated it. I’ve stated it for a few years. Scares the s**t out of me.”
On the idea that F1 drivers solely care about F1 reasonably than different types of motorsport, he added: “Some individuals are stunned once they’re like, ‘Dude, you want that?’ Like if I stated I grew up watching NASCAR, they’d be like, ‘Wait, NASCAR? You are an F1 man.’”
The previous Crimson Bull driver shall be attending this 12 months’s Indianapolis 500 as a fan after retiring from racing and turning into a Ford Racing ambassador.
“What you’ve got advised me about Indy and the five hundred – I’ve in all probability by no means been extra excited since I used to be a child to go to a race and simply be a fan of a race, ? And I believe to expertise it, and the way in which you discuss it – you’ve got achieved the European factor, you’ve got travelled the world racing. I believe it may actually hit me onerous.”
He went to Daytona for the primary time on the finish of final 12 months and located that seeing the banking in individual was one thing else totally: “Man, some stuff you simply must see. You simply must bodily see it,” he stated earlier than including: “And I believe that is how I really feel with the five hundred.
“I’ve an thought of what it will likely be like. I have been round racing my entire life, however there’ll nonetheless be issues which are simply gonna blow me away and I believe that is cool.”
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