Although born and raised in Australia, the impressive 25-year-old’s father is from Sicily.
But when asked by the Italian sports daily La Gazzetta dello Sport if driving for Ferrari is the ultimate ‘dream’, Ricciardo – who rose through the ranks of the energy drink Red Bull’s junior programme – gave a surprising answer.
“To be honest I think this is just a cliche,” said Ricciardo, whose family has always pronounced its Italian-sounding surname as ‘Ric-ardo’.
So rather than dreaming of Ferrari, Ricciardo told the Italian news agency Adnkronos that he is more than enjoying his first year with Red Bull’s premier team.