Whenever a driver races in front of a home crowd, or when Ferrari race in Monza, the support for them is tremendous. The same is true for Daniel Ricciardo at the Australian Grand Prix. The perpetually-grinning Aussie is well-loved in his homeland, and even has numerous fans around the world.

Back in his Red Bull days, Daniel Ricciardo spoke about interacting with the grid kids. The kids replaced the usual grid girls, who have been employed for a long time in F1. Ricciardo admitted that the wide-eyed children interacted with them so much, that he wondered why the grid girls never did the same thing.

Daniel Ricciardo meets the Lewis Hamilton fan

The former Red Bull driver recounted a story of meeting one particular child. He immediately realised that the kid was a Lewis Hamilton fan. The Australian driver revealed that the boy was initially ecstatic to meet the local hero and was fawning over him.

However, while the boy was in the middle of excitedly talking to Ricciardo, when Hamilton walked by. Almost immediately, the boy zipped towards the British driver to meet his idol. Incidentally, the boy’s name was also Lewis, and he was eager to meet his namesake. The boy was determined to meet Lewis Hamilton. In the process, he leftDaniel Ricciardo high and dry.

Since then, Ricciardo has left Red Bull and is preparing for his second season with Renault. This time, he has a new teammate, in the form of youngster Esteban Ocon. Renault drafted the French driver for 2020. Unfortunately, it meant that Nico Hulkenberg is left without a drive in Formula One.

The French team, have boasted that their power unit has improved so much that it is now better than Mercedes. However, once the season begins, they need to put money where their mouth is, or eat humble pie.