Daniel Ricciardo spotted alongside Sky F1 presenter forced to miss Sao Paulo GP

Daniel Ricciardo was seen alongside Sky Sports F1 presenter Natalie Pinkham at a Premier League football match on Sunday.

Ricciardo, who retired from F1 last year, has made very few public appearances since bowing out of the sport.

The Australian was sat alongside Pinkham, who was forced to miss this weekend’s F1 action in Sao Paulo as she recovers from a neck injury.

The 48-year-old underwent successful surgery in September to remove a disc pressing on her spinal cord.

Pinkham had been advised she was at risk of potential nerve damage caused by the issue.

She hasn’t fronted Sky’s coverage since the Italian Grand Prix in September.

However, her last-minute absence in Brazil forced long-term presenter Simon Lazenby to fly in for Saturday’s coverage.

Craig Slater and Ted Kravitz shared presenting duties in Brazil on Friday.

Ricciardo and Pinkham attended Brentford’s home clash with Newcastle on Sunday.

Pinkham, a Brentford supporter, saw her team come away with all three points to move into 12th in the Premier League.

Pinkham’s husband, Owain Walbyoff, was also alongside them.

Pinkham’s close relationship with Ricciardo

Pinkham has been part of the Sky F1 team since 2012, when they won the broadcast rights in the UK.

That coincided with Ricciardo making his F1 debut with Toro Rosso.

The pair are close friends, and Ricciardo is the godfather of Pinkham’s child.

Explaining why Ricciardo was chosen to be a godparent, Pinkham said on the Pitstop podcast: “And you know what, the little story behind that is that we couldn’t decide who make godparents for our kids, right, and so we decided, my husband and I decided we would wait 6 months, and see who made the most effort with Wilf. Because sometimes you make godparents out of sort of legacy friends and then you kind of regret it. Because you go, they don’t really care about the kid, you know.

“Without a shadow of a doubt, he made the most effort. He’d be like can I come over and I’m like actually I’m not there, [Ricciardo] I’m actually coming to see Wilf.

“I promise you, the man is just, anything you think you know about Daniel [Ricciardo] and his kindness and his, you know, compassion and obviously we all know that he’s an incredible racer and a great lad, like a good laugh, but it’s the kindness, that I don’t think a lot of people realize how deep that is.”