Known for being easy going, Ricciardo said his killer instinct didn’t come naturally.
“I have had a competitor in me since when I was a kid. I was always competitive in everything I did,” he said.
“But the killer instinct I needed to develop and work on extracting it out of myself. I'm naturally more easy going.
“One of my first trainers at the time, Stu Smith, he really brought it out of me. I did have to work at it but when I let it out it did feel kinda nice, it’s nice to be a badass sometimes.
“I would use too much energy trying to be tough all the time because it’s not natural for me.
“I would see other drivers who had that killer instinct from morning to night and I wished I could be like them.
“But I think people would see me laughing and joking and they would see that as weakness and underestimate me. But I would put the helmet on and think ‘okay now it’s time to be tough like the others’.”
It was Ricciardo’s easy going nature, along with his killer instinct on the track, that gave him the nickname “the honey badger”.
“Honey badgers are cuddly and cute, super good looking,” he laughed.
“But when something takes what’s theirs, they fight back. And I think that was sort of like my alter ego when I got behind the wheel.”
Part of Ricciardo’s killer instinct manifested in his unique skill as an “overtaker”
“Overtaking is a really big part of racing. There’s a lot of drivers who could go on the track by themselves and be fast, but go on the track with 20 others and it’s about race craft, and overtaking is a big part of that,” he said.
“It becomes quite scary because there’s some unpredictability and risk involved. You might be in third place and think ‘well I’ve got a podium, do I need to risk crashing’. But it’s the most fun and I always thought it was better to crash than not try.
“It got to a point to me it was just instinct. You accept that if it doesn’t work you can be proud that you gave it a crack.
“I loved it, and I felt like the competitors would see me coming and knew I’d have a go, so I was already one step ahead.”
Famous for his celebratory “shoeys”, McLaughlin asked Ricciardo what a shoey actually tastes like.
“SUCCESS!” Ricciardo said.
“Someone asked me if I ever got sick from doing one, and the answer is no.
“It tastes fine, but anything chilled helps to numb the taste. If it was warm you’d definitely get more… flavour.
“But we’re so dehydrated, one sip of champagne and I'm buzzing.”
A show which skyrocketed Ricciardo’s fame was Drive to Survive.
“Before Drive to Survive there was a fan base, but the show opened it up to so many more people,” Ricciardo said.
“What I liked about it was, when I was at school there were probably only 2-3 of us who would talk about it and I always wished more people would see how cool it is.
“So now that it’s been given a platform more people can see how cool it is.”
