Daniel Ricciardo admits the pressure of trying to “please everyone” makes it hard to enjoy his home race in Australia.
The man from Perth doesn’t have a great record at Albert Park having seen a second-place finish taken away following a fuel flow breach in 2014 and suffered three other retirements.
One of those came this year when his race was effectively ruined in the first 100m as he lost his front wing running on the grass at the start but it is the off-track commitments which the 30-year-old says really impact him.
“I was very frustrated, angry and bitter after Melbourne this year,” Ricciardo said on F1’s Beyond the Grid podcast. “I felt like I’d been worked to the ground all week, accepted every request and tried to please everyone.
“My first race with Renault was sh*t, it didn’t work out, I did the media afterwards and then I’d kind of done everything that week and yet still there were people like ‘oh why didn’t you speak to us?’
“There’s a level where they don’t understand what I’ve done and what I’m going through, and as a sportsman anyway having a low sometimes you just need some space and privacy.
“At some point, you’ve got to be selfish and this is how I said it: ‘Do you guys want me to do 1000 interviews and keep all the newspapers happy this week and have a sh*t race?’ Or would you rather I said no to a few things but had a great race?’
“Then they can all write something good about me or whatever, at some point, the racing has to be more important.”
2020 is likely to be a little easier for Ricciardo without having the additional factor of a first race for a new team, but the ‘Honey Badger’ does expect to change his approach.
“Yes, 100%, because the truth is I don’t enjoy it, and I want to,” he said.
“I’m not saying I can never enjoy it, the objective is to start enjoying Melbourne and the last few years I haven’t because there’s too much on that weekend.
“I try to please everyone and don’t please myself, so I’m getting takeaway every night and I’m sitting in a room, I’m not getting out.
“Melbourne is one of the greatest cities in the world, I love it and I really want to enjoy it, but unfortunately I haven’t been [able to].
“So I want to change it. Your home Grand Prix should be your favourite one of the year, so that’s what I want it to be.”
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Ricciardo’s huge popularity isn’t just limited to Melbourne either, as he spoke about the usual response he receives back in his home town of Perth.
“It’s a pretty big city now, but still a small-town mentality and the reality is not many famous people, so to speak, have come from Perth,” he explained.
“So I guess you’re a bit of a big fish in a small pond and naturally you’re going to get recognised when you go out, I love Perth and I love being home, but it’s hard to go out with friends, especially now with camera phones.
“It’s hard to feel like you’ve completely got you’re freedom, and I get that, and 99% of the time people if they do come up [to me] it’s friendly and it’s fun.
“So it’s not negative at all and something I think I’ve got to appreciate and understand.”