28/08/2017
NEWS STORY
Having forsaken the shoey, despite having fellow Aussie Mark Webber on the podium, Daniel Ricciardo subsequently let the silliness we have all come to love him for take over during the official press conference.
Asked if the reason for Verstappen's continuing issues with his car this season might be because he is harder on his car, Ricciardo went into full Swiss Toni mode.
"Yeah, certainly," he grinned, "I do a lot of things with my driving style which is very nice to the car. I actually talk to it a lot during the race. I massage it.
"I wouldn't call it foreplay," he continued, "but it's something like that and Max is young, he's aggressive, he goes straight in!
"I know you're shaking your head," he said amidst the laughter, "but I feel like you knew the answer would be something silly like that. In all seriousness, I don't have an answer for it. I've honestly... I have asked before. I've even asked all the guys in the team, the mechanical and also from the power unit side and I've said is there something you see Max is doing which I should maybe avoid and they said no, there's nothing he's doing. He's not over-revving it or anything silly.
"It's unfortunate. I commented on the podium that... I think it was Austria as well he had a big big following there and all the fans still stayed, the whole weekend. Obviously they all want him to do well but I think they're racing enthusiasts so really nice that they stay around for the rest of the race and support us all. Yeah, I know he gets bigger cheers from them but I still feel like they are a good crowd, there's no aggression, it's all love..."
And for those of you who have never heard of Swiss Toni... you'll need to Google it.
Check out our Sunday gallery from Spa, here.