Daniel Ricciardo will design a tattoo for Renault F1 boss Cyril Abiteboul after securing the team’s first podium since returning to Formula One at the Eifel Grand Prix.
Ricciardo finished third at the Nurburgring for his first podium since winning the 2018 Monaco Grand Prix for Red Bull. Renault had not finished in the top three since returning to F1 as a manufacturer team in 2016.
“It’s real,” Ricciardo said when asked about the tattoo after the race. “It’s going to happen.”
The Australian driver is not sure what the tattoo will look like just yet.
“We’ll have to do some thinking now, but probably it will be something to do with me, but I think with a German flavour. This is obviously the place we did it. A little tip of the hat to something traditional in Germany as well.”
Ricciardo said he had an added appreciation for the podium finish given how long it had been.
“It’s been a while! And actually, to be honest, it feels like the first podium all over again. I think it’s been two and a half years or something, and yeah the feeling, it’s really nice, it’s fresh.
“I’m so, so happy and obviously to see everyone as well: we’ve all waited a long time for this. So, yeah, I think everyone’s going to soak it up.”
Speaking later on Sunday evening, Abiteboul explained the ground rules he had set — Ricciardo chooses the design, but he gets to pick the size and the location on his body.
Abiteboul explained how the bet came about in the first place.
“I don’t [have any], it’s not really my style, I guess that’s why I made that bet. I remember that night in Silverstone [host of the British Grand Prix], Thursday evening in Silverstone last year, where Daniel was showing me a new tattoo that he had.
I asked him ‘how do you get there? What’s the sort of mental journey to get to that kind of tattoo?’ He told me ‘I was just walking in front of that tattoo place and I thought let’s do one’. OK, alright. So I thought let’s do something proper. So if you do your podium, I’ll do one.
“I’m a man of my word. I just need a bit of time to decide the size and the location.”