Daniel Ricciardo has detailed a hilariously awkward encounter that saw him get caught out by a Formula 1 world champion.
In an appearance on local radio in Perth, the 33-year-old revealed the incident which took place in the early days of his F1 career.
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In the final minutes before strapping into the car for the next several hours, the urge to go struck the Aussie star.
His mad dash to the urinal however came unstuck when he was confronted with a longer than expected line waiting to use the men’s facilities.
With no time left to spare Ricciardo ducked into the women’s toilets, but as he departed he was met by a frosty rival.
2007 world champ Kimi Raikkonen just happened to be outside as the Aussie emerged with the Finn superstar delivering a cold line to his younger rival.
“You don’t want to wee in a race car,” Ricciardo said on 96FM.
“The belts are so tight and they are pushing in on you and it’s just not fun.
“I tried recently doing it in a bottle, nup, doesn’t work.
“Everyone kind of queues up sometimes and because you don’t have much time.
“There was like a females and a males, and I was like, ‘Look when you’ve got to go, you just go’.
“So I walked into the females and as I was walking out Raikkonen goes, ‘All the women are in here’ or something like that.
“He was basically having a jab at me that I’m female.
“I was new and the way he kind of said it, he doesn’t really talk to anyone, I just took it personally.
“[I thought] One day I will show you I am a man!”
The encounter wasn’t the last that took place between the Perth native and the cold-natured Finn, with Ricciardo explaining an incident that occurred on the grid.
Some drivers will sit by themselves as they visual for the race ahead, others mingle with their pit crew.
Ricciardo was different all together and enjoyed the pre-race moments as he mixed it up even with his fellow drivers.
But Raikkonen was purely there to do a job and not make friends along the way, something that got under the skin of Ricciardo.
“On the grid, I tend to be quite friendly with people, but if I smile at someone and they blank me — it kind of p****s me off,” he said.
“I take it personally for sure. I remember Kimi used to give me the cold shoulder and I took that personally.
“I would make a mental note of it and on track if I was ever feeling generous it was never going to be towards him.”
Raikkonen was notorious throughout his career for never showing emotion, the polar opposite of what Ricciardo is.
