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Daniel Ricciardo’s Gift to McLaren Boss Brown in Return for F1 Podium Bet

Published 04/02/2021, 2:12 AM EDT

A couple of days ago, Daniel Ricciardo made a ‘podium bet’ with McLaren CEO Zak Brown. The bet entailed that if Daniel gets a podium with the Woking-based outfit this year, then he would get a chance to drive his idol, Dale Earnhardt Jr’s, 1984 Wrangler Chevrolet Monte Carlo.

Ricciardo seemed pumped to fulfill the bet. However, the man from Down Under also wanted to give Brown a ‘return gift’ if he was successful in getting a podium. Brown himself suggested the idea of the return gift. However, he may end up regretting it later. Much like how Lewis Hamilton did after the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.

As you may have guessed, Ricciardo’s return gift to Zak will be a shoey. But that’s not all.

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After hearing Zak’s side of the bet, Daniel said, “I feel like I’ve got to give you something though.”

That’s when the McLaren CEO suggested the idea of the shoey. Ricciardo replied, “Done. The trophy and the boot you’ll drink from, you can keep it.”

Ricciardo may feel a bit upset if he has to part with the trophy, but if he gets to drive his idol’s car, he surely won’t mind giving up the silverware. Who knows? He may even make up for it by getting another podium.

However, he does have some work to do to achieve that.

Will Daniel Ricciardo improve his performance at Imola?

Interestingly, Ricciardo’s last podium came at this very venue with Renault. That’s also when he re-started his shoey celebration with Hamilton joining in the fun.

If Ricciardo can repeat last year’s performance in 2021 as well, it would be quite fitting. Surely he’d want to drive Earnhardt Jr’s iconic car sooner rather than later.

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He had a solid outing in Bahrain, in terms of the result, where he ended up in P7. However, he did seem a few steps off the pace to teammate Lando Norris.

A reason for that could have been that he wasn’t a 100% comfortable in the car yet. But come the race in Imola, Ricciardo could build from the confidence he got in the season opener and maybe spring a surprise.

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Will he achieve the podium bet as early as April 18th? We shall soon find out.