HIGH-TEST HONEY BADGER
Monaco Grand Prix, 2014. We’re milling about on Red Bull Racing’s boat on the sparkling Mediterranean when a fresh-faced Daniel Ricciardo strolls in, beaming with an amicability that’s impossible to dislike. Needless to say at this point Sebastian Vettel is the big dog in the RBR paddock, having come fresh off four straight years claiming the F1 Drivers’ Championship and earning his team the Constructors Championship—and arguably staking claim to Best Driver on the Planet. But what impresses most on this glorious summer day is Ricciardo’s authenticity, and perhaps even shyness that makes you worry if he’s indeed ready for the brutal F1 gauntlet—famously the most ruthless, superlative, demanding category in all motorsport.
One wondered then would his humility and sincerity be his downfall in an asphalt Serengeti crawling with apex predators? Turns out that worry was unfounded as the Australian-born Ricciardo finished third overall that year in the Driver’s Championship, notching his first three Formula One wins in Canada, Hungary, and
