McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo was delighted when he saw a picture of Harry Styles wearing his merchandise while he was out in New York.
The singer was seen out and about donning a shirt with the words ‘Daniel Ricciardo’ embroidered in capitals on the back of it, along with the rear of a race car.
The first name is in italics in small, blue letters on the back of a black shirt, while the surname was in big, bold orange letters underneath it.
The front of the shirt features the front end of the race car, with Ricciardo’s full name embroidered in red italics.
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The Aussie’s nickname, Danny Ric, is all in orange around the car, with Danny embroidered vertically downwards, and Ric going across – both in big capital letters.
Styles and Ricciardo and connected by a mutual friend, and Styles is evidently a Formula 1 fan, so wore the eye-catching shirt while he was out with a friend.
The eight-time race winner was enthused when he saw the images of Styles wearing his merchandise.
“It’s a lot of fun, I was excited,” Ricciardo told the Fizzy and Wippy Radio Show in Sydney.
“We have a mutual friend who is, let’s say, very close to me and it’s someone close to him as well, so it’s funny.
“When the picture came out on social media, the mutual friend was like ‘I can’t believe this hasn’t been picked up before because he wears the shirt all the time. He (Styles) is always in public wearing the T-shirt’.”
Ricciardo cannot say that he and Styles are close friends, but quintessential of his positive character, he is enamoured by the fact that a star of the music and film industry is already a fan.
“I want to lie to you and say yes, we’ve met many times and had a few beers together,” he added.
“I haven’t met him yet. It makes it even better because he’s a fan before he’s even met me, right?”
Ricciardo and George Russell have always shared a banter-filled friendship, and the Briton can occasionally be seen wearing the Perth-born racer’s merchandise at races.
At the Dutch Grand Prix, the 24-year-old was wearing a white shirt with three lemons on the left, and the word ‘Enchanté,’ a French word the Aussie has picked up and made his own over the years.
Ricciardo told a brilliant story when he was asked how the Mercedes driver came to be donning his clothing.
“I’ll give you the story, it’s a feelgood story, one for the grandkids, he won’t mind me saying this,” added the McLaren driver.
“So he texted me one Friday night and it was a picture of his girlfriend on the couch looking up the RIC3 shop. And he was like ‘mate, what’s going on?’
“And I was like ‘tell me what she likes, I’ll send her a few things’. So we sent a few things.
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“I guess one of them actually fits George, so he decided to wear it.
“It’s good, George is a good lad, I like the kid!”
Ricciardo is set to leave McLaren at the end of the 2022 season, and he will be replaced by Alpine reserve, Oscar Piastri.