"Grandpa" Ricciardo 'scared himself' on the Nordschleife

Renault

"Grandpa" Ricciardo 'scared himself' on the Nordschleife

The Australian drove a Megane RS

Ian Parkes

Sunday 11 October 2020 09:14

Daniel Ricciardo has revealed to 'scaring himself' following a run on the Nordschleife this week.

The Renault driver took to the famed 'big brother' of the current Nùrburgring in a Megane RS on Thursday evening, and it proved to be quite an experience.

With light rain falling, and with a severe lack of grip, Ricciardo conceded in a video posted on Renault's social media channels that he nearly "binned" the car early on which left him 'almost sh**ting himself', and describing himself as "a grandpa" for driving so slow.

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Reflecting on his experience, Ricciardo said: "I scared myself, let's say that. We did it with the team on Thursday evening, and it was pretty greasy.

"I don't know the track. I don't play it on gaming or anything, so I don't know it off the top of my head, but I scared myself in the first 500 minutes, and that set the tone for the next 22 kilometres, or whatever.

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— Renault F1 Team (@RenaultF1Team) October 10, 2020

"I was timid, but it's beautiful, it's fun. Would I race there 24 hours with 180 cars on track? I'm good, thanks. Call me old but I'm fine where I am."

Team-mate Esteban Ocon also took to the track in an Alpine and endured his own hair-raising moments, declaring the circuit to be "a lot tougher than what I thought it would be".

Around the Nürburgring, Ricciardo and Ocon will start sixth and seventh for the Eifel Grand Prix, with the former declaring himself "relatively pleased".

He added: "We didn't really have any expectations as far as where we would be.

"This is a maximum downforce circuit, and these have been the stand-out weaknesses for us this year, so to come here and get sixth and seventh was really quite encouraging.

"It's been a nice track to drive on. All of us are enjoying it, it's definitely a good track."

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