It is no secret that I’m a major F1 fan. It is the perfect mix of strategy, teamwork, leadership, and greatness with a side order of drama. It is perhaps why Netflix’s Drive to Survive (DTS) has been so successful because you get to see behind-the-scenes of a high-performance organisation but it’s a sport. One of DTS’s greatest and original stars, Daniel Ricciardo, has just been dropped from his team with six races left in the season. This is not about F1 but some lessons that can be learnt from someone who has been through the highs and lows of the pinnacle of motor racing.
All of F1, except for the ‘family’ organisation Red Bull, is in mourning for Ricciardo’s departure. His fans and F1 pundits think that he has been robbed of a proper send-off. After 13 years in the sport, and podiums and wins across three teams, Ricciardo deserves some sort of celebration and recognition of his time in the sport. So here is a bit of a send-off for Daniel.
I’m going to start with something that he said a few years ago when asked what he would have told his younger self:
Enjoy the butterflies. Enjoy being naïve. Enjoy the nerves, the pressure.
If you want to stand on top from day one, then there’s nothing else to look forward to.
Enjoy the process of making a name for yourself, and meeting some great people along the way. There are a lot of worldly people in this paddock that you can laugh with, learn from, enjoy some moments with.
Embrace the good ones. Stay focused. Don’t veer too far off your path.
Build, grow, learn from yourself.
Don’t forget what got you here.
The Honey Badger, as he’s always been known, provides quite a bit of wisdom in this small little quote.
🍩 Enjoy the Ride
First and foremost, enjoy the ride. The process of getting to where you want to be is never going to happen overnight. Enjoy every minute of it - the good and bad moments. Ricciardo has had both. You almost always saw him with a smile on his face throughout a race weekend and having a laugh. He genuinely loved and enjoyed the journey, even when things were not going his way.
🍩 Stay Focused
Keep the main thing, the main thing. As Ricciardo says, “Don’t veer too far off your path”. If you want to reach the top step of that proverbial podium one day, then you have to stay focused.
🍩 Build, Grow and Learn
No one knows everything. As Adam Grant has said:
Expertise is what you know. Humility is knowing what you don’t know. Curiosity is how much you want to learn. Expertise yields insight today. Humility and curiosity fuel growth tomorrow. (Adam Grant, bird app, 17 December 2022)
Another part of that Ricciardo quote was about getting faster with each lap. Anyone who watches F1 will know that drivers and their teams will learn from mistakes in laps or strategies and grow from that (except, seemingly Ferrari 🙄). The same applies to life; learn from mistakes and what you don’t know and grow.
Be open to the people and experiences around you on the journey. This is a part of growth. You often learn about yourself through others.
🍩 Authenticity
Every driver, journalist, fan and person who has worked with Ricciardo has spoken to Ricciardo’s authenticity. In a post he wrote at one point, he said:
Always be true to yourself. This is a man who rode into the Austin GP as a cowboy on a horse. Acted silly in the paddock but raced hard on the track and still took the fastest lap in his final Grand Prix, knowing that it was his last. In the words of the GOAT, Sir Lewis Hamilton, “You leave a legacy of always being yourself, which in this sport is never easy”. The outpouring of love for Ricciardo has been for his authenticity, as well as his genuine kindness and ability to bring joy to the F1 paddock.
🍩 Don’t be a Dick
Don’t be a dick to the people who are around you. It’s sometimes the little things that matter. Everyone speaks to Ricciardo’s kindness and engaging with the people around him. In a sport where pressure, egos, and big names and paycheques come with the territory, those small moments of kindness and paying attention to the people around you matter. *Ahem* to a certain former teammate of the Honey Badger. It doesn’t even have to be that world, just don’t be a dick to those who work with you and that are there to support you.
🍩 Your Company is not Your Family
Ultimately, your company/organisation is always looking out for itself, and Ricciardo has learnt this the hard way twice now. First, he was dropped by McLaren, and then he went back to his supposed ‘family’ Red Bull, which dropped him. You can be loyal to a fault, but at the end of the day, the person you need to look out for is yourself. If it is a toxic work environment, get out. If you are being mistreated at work, get out. Your organisation will replace you without a second thought, and there will likely be no beautiful tribute to the hard work you put in for them - even if you’re a legend of the sport.
I won’t do a shoey in honour of the Honey Badger because it’s gross, but I will leave it to F1 veteran reporter Ted Kravitz, who did a beautiful tribute after the Singapore GP before we all knew.
And to the Red Bull Racing ‘family’, F.E.A.
Ax