Ricciardo on Abiteboul tattoo: 'Otherwise it will be old news'

Daniel Ricciardo had made a special agreement with his former team boss at Renault Cyril Abiteboul: when the Australian would achieve his first podium for Renault, Abiteboul would get a tattoo. However, the tattoo is still not on Abiteboul's body.

On Sunday, October 11, 2020, Ricciardo stood on the podium for Renault for the first time in the Eifel Grand Prix at the Nurburgring. Abiteboul had to be convinced: that tattoo was going to be there. But now, almost a year later the tattoo is not there yet. In that time both Ricciardo and Abiteboul have left Renault and Ricciardo has already won his first race for his new team McLaren.

The change of teams for Ricciardo and Abiteboul's departure made the situation a lot trickier than hoped, but the Aussie still has faith in Abiteboul that the tattoo will come. "I had an overwhelming number of emails, WhatsApp messages, and all of it, so I did see an email from him," Ricciardo revealed at Motorsport.com.

"There was the topic of tattoos, so I'm still very optimistic we could get this done before the year’s out. Otherwise it's obviously going to drag on and become old news, so I'm determined to make it happen," Ricciardo concludes.

Ricciardo clearly likes to make bets with leaders of the teams he drives for. For example, he has agreed with McLaren CEO Zak Brown that he can drive an old NASCAR car from Dale Earnhardt if he achieves his first McLaren podium. A bet he has already won since he won the Grand Prix of Italy.