Daniel Ricciardo gives ‘weirdest answer ever given’ and shares thoughts on Max Verstappen

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Daniel Ricciardo may not be having much fun on the track in 2022, but the likeable Australian has lost none of his charisma off it. The McLaren man’s difficult start to this new era of F1 was compounded in his last race in Monaco, where he suffered a bad crash in second practice.

He failed to impress in the actual race either, finishing 13th, and sits on just 11 points after seven races. Indeed, his only top-10 finish has come in his home race down under, where he crossed the line in sixth place.

The form on ‘The Honey Badger’ has led to question marks over his future with the British team, with McLaren CEO Zak Brown admitting last month he had not met expectations since his move from Renault at the end of 2020. Indeed, despite a dramatic race win in Monza last year, Ricciardo has been out-performed by younger teammate Lando Norris.

But he didn’t look like a man under pressure when he appeared on the McLaren’s YouTube channel on Monday. In amusing the footage, the 32-year-old fielded questions based on what fans asked most about him in Google. 

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Amongst the questions he faced, Ricciardo was asked straight up if he likes former Red Bull teammate Max Verstappen: “Daniel Ricciardo does like Max Verstappen,” he said, somewhat hesitantly. “I would just draw it [the line] at like, I wouldn’t say loves. There is no formal relationship or anything, but I have a good, let’s say, friendly relationship with Mr Max Verstappen.”

That peculiar response was nothing compared to later on though, when he was asked to explain why he was ‘always smiling’: “It’ amazing what surgery can do,” he replied. “It can do wonders in 2022. Obviously in F1 you get paid pretty well and I was able to look into permanent smile surgery.”

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Continuing to enjoy himself, he added: “You should look it up,” before conceding it was time to change the subject. “That’s the weirdest answer I’ve ever given. Look, I like smiling.”

Ricciardo will hope that his on-track display can help him smile this weekend, at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku. It’s a venue where he won whilst driving for Red Bull back in 2017.

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