This year’s Italian Grand Prix welcomed us to the top step of the podium Daniel Ricciardo, in his first victory – the eighth overall – after the success obtained in Monaco in 2018. Despite the exploit in Monza, the McLaren driver still faced a season made up of ups and downs, as confirmed by his last performance. other than brilliant in Qatar, where he failed to go beyond 12th place in the race after the previous elimination from Q2.
However, as stated by the Australian himself in an interview with Autosport, the 32-year-old admitted that the defeat it has always been a particularly negative element in the course of his career and his psychology; although it is naturally part of sports competitions, and of life in general, it has always had a bad effect on the pilot from Perth, who has in any case been able to correct his reactions over the years: “I know where this spirit of mine comes from – Ricciardo confessed – as a child I was extremely competitive in everything from ping-pong to Uno. I just hated losing. Over time I matured, and I faced defeat in a different way. But, even today, I’m a bad loser; I get very angry in cases where I lose and I could have done something more to win, but I don’t throw chairs when I end up behind, away from the top, because there I couldn’t do anything about it. If, on the other hand, I find myself in a situation where I am eliminated by a tenth, but with all the favorable conditions to be able to cancel the distance, defeat eats me inside. Today I’m better at managing anger, also because I’ve already hurt myself in the past by breaking some object, and it’s not even intelligent “.
Specifically, Ricciardo finally confirmed this side of the character through the approach of his coach towards him after a defeat, ending the explanation with a joke: “Michael, my coach, understands when I feel this way, and hugs me until I calm down – He admitted – it’s kind of funny, because people wouldn’t expect it from me. I am a quiet and happy guy, but when there is competition going on I think I’m a f ***** or psycho. If this car doesn’t change for five years, then I will improve as a driver. Knowing that you can still improve keeps motivation high, and it is the reason why you wake up and move on every day ”.
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