6. Ricciardo celebrates the return of the 'shoey'
It's not been a happy few seasons for Daniel Ricciardo recently, who felt sidelined at Red Bull in favour of Max Verstappen to the extent that he signed for Renault at the end of 2018. Unfortunately the French factory team wasn't able to provide him with a car capable of getting onto the podium let alone compete for race wins and titles. When McLaren came calling offering him a change of scene for 2021 he said yes, leading to some strained relations at Enstone over perceived disloyalty and lack of commitment - hardly a great way to start the season. But after a DNF in the season opener it was soon clear that the RS20 was a giant leap forward for the team compared to last year's model, and by Silverstone Ricciardo was in touching distance of the podium. There were further close calls in Belgium and Tuscany, but Ricciardo had to wait until the Nurburgring to make the final step up and secure his first podium position since his victory with Red Bull at Monaco in 2018.
A pre-season bet meant that the podium committed team principal Cyril Abiteboul to getting a tattoo of the Aussie's choosing, and any hints of estrangement between the driver and his team were now long forgotten. But Ricciardo had forgotten a key part of the celebrations that day - there had been no podium 'shoey'! His fans were dismayed. There was only one thing to do: he'd have to claim another podium as quickly as possible so that he could correct the oversight. Less than a month later he pulled it off at Imola with another third place, and this time he made sure to fill his race boot with champagne. And amazingly, world champion Lewis Hamilton decided to join in.
“I was about to drink a beautiful, fresh shoey and I heard Lewis say ‘take your other shoe off’," Ricciardo recalled afterwards. “I was like ‘No’, because three years ago on the podium he goes: ‘I will never ever do that. I will never drink it. You can offer but I’ll never do it’. But he asked for it today and that took me by surprise. 2020 is the year of the strange, though, so it was good fun!" But don't expect Hamilton to make a habit of it: the world champion said later that "it definitely didn’t taste great." Maybe not, but it made for a great moment.
