Ricciardo’s Date with the Dead

Ahead of this weekend’s Mexican Grand Prix, Daniel Ricciardo celebrated ‘The Dia de los Muertos’ (the Day of the Dead), an extremely popular event in Mexico where people honour the memory of departed loved ones, while also taking part in huge parades and wild parties.

The Australian joined the celebrations by ‘taking on death’ at a special event organised by Red Bull’s teamwear partner Puma, which turned an abandoned shopping mall into a lit dome, into which Ricciardo starred on a dirt bike.

The 27-year-old was also strapped into a ‘flying suit’ to battle a host of opponents, eventually triumphing over ‘Death’.

“It was great,” Ricciardo said of the experience. “The event was fun it was something different,” he said afterwards. “I got to do a bit of acrobatics or aerobatics, and also to be in character, trying to act serious!

“It was a cool experience and I think it will turn out well. I love how they celebrate the Day of the Dead here. Death is such a negative thing around the world, but they manage to kick a positive into it, so that’s really cool and I respect that.

“It just goes to show you can find a positive in pretty much everything in life. Also, I got to ride a dirt bike for about 10 metres as well, so that kind of satisfied me!”