Ricciardo unhappy with ‘idiots’ behind F1’s social media crash focus

Daniel Ricciardo has criticised the way Formula 1 continues to emphasise the use of crash footage across its social media channels.

The new McLaren driver was left “disgusted” by F1’s decision to show replays of Romain Grosjean’s fiery crash at last year’s Bahrain Grand Prix, which he branded as being “completely disrespectful”.

And now Ricciardo has taken aim at F1’s approach to focusing on crashes on its social media output.

“I think last year, F1 put on their social channels, like, ‘top 10 moments of the year’ or something, and eight of the ten were crashes,” Ricciardo said in an interview with Square Mile.

“I was just like, you guys are fucking idiots. Maybe 12-year-old kids want to see that kind of content, and that’s cool because they don’t know any better, but we’re not kids. Just do better, guys. Do better than that.”

Ricciardo also questioned the portrayal of his relationship with Carlos Sainz during the second season of Netflix’s Drive to Survive series, which has faced criticism for how it depicted the rivalry between Sainz and Lando Norris at McLaren in season three.

While the Australian praised the fly-on-the-wall documentary show for ultimately helping to boost interest in F1, he warned the series risks becoming another “reality TV show” if it continues to exaggerate drama in the paddock.

“I mean the second season, there were some episodes or parts where I feel they forced it a little bit,” he explained.

"They tried to create a bit of a rivalry between me and Sainz and it wasn’t really there. Like, he’s no more a rival than anyone else.

“There wasn’t any personal grudge with him, but I think [Netflix] wanted something, so a lot of questions led with asking about Carlos. Maybe no one noticed, but for me, I was like, he’s fine.

“I’ve probably got other guys that I dislike, you know, as opposed to Carlos… I mean, he dresses like a 60 year old, but otherwise he’s alright.”