Why is Daniel Ricciardo called 'The Honey Badger'? AlphaTauri star's thoughts on 'cuddly but savage'

Publish date: 2024-05-05

Daniel Ricciardo is the name dominating Formula 1 at the moment after he replaced Nyck de Vries at AlphaTauri.

The Australian is known by many for his bubbly persona off track but he'll also be keen to serve up a reminder of his ruthlessness on it.

F1 are no stranger to giving drivers various nicknames, with Alain Prost known as the Professor and Kimi Raikkonen called The Iceman.

But the return of ‘The Honey Badger’ for the first time since Ricciardo drove for McLaren at Abu Dhabi could cause confusion.

A honey badger, which are is typically located in Africa, are known to be one of the most dangerous mammals in the animal kingdom.

Why is Ricciardo called the Honey Badger?

Ricciardo's personality coupled with his tendency for daring late-braking overtakes has seen him compared to honey badgers.

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“It is supposed to be the most fearless animal in the animal kingdom“, he told Red Bull in 2014.

“When you look at it, he seems quite cute and cuddly, but as soon as someone crosses his territory in a way he doesn’t like, he turns into a bit of a savage.”

“He’ll go after anything – tigers and pythons, he turns very quickly, but he’s a good guy.”

Ricciardo later revealed how he'd happened upon the animal that then shaped much of how he modelled his attacking driving style.

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Speaking to F1 Racing Magazine, Ricciardo explained: “It was my trainer at the time, Stuart Smith. He’d shown me a documentary on it, and said: ‘Dude this animal’s great!’ I thought it was awesome.

"Then he added that he thought I had a lot of honey badger qualities. And I thought, ‘yeah, I think I do!’ So it started from there. I think I’ve done well to keep it going.”

He also told Nico Rosberg’s Beyond Victory podcast: “When I adopted the Honey Badger, I made that pact to myself that I would rather try and fail to try and potentially crash than not try at all.”

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