Daniel Ricciardo shares ‘shoey’ with Patrick Stewart on Canadian GP podium
The Star Trek and X-Men star had no hesitation in sharing a 'shoey' with Daniel Ricciardo. Photo: AP
Daniel Ricciardo claimed his third straight Formula One podium at the Canadian Grand Prix and showed his influence among Hollywood elites by recruiting Patrick Stewart as his latest ‘shoey’ acolyte.
Australian Red Bull driver Ricciardo came third in a Mercedes-dominated race at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve after Lewis Hamilton comfortably won the ahead of teammate Valtteri Bottas
While the Mercedes pair dominated, Ricciardo produced a stellar drive to reach the podium after starting sixth on the grid.
Stewart, of Star Trek and X-Men fame, was conducting the post-race interviews on the podium, and upon nearing the party-friendly proximity of the Australian driver, Ricciardo began motioning towards his celebratory bottle of bubbly.
“Oh my. I know what’s coming. This is becoming a ritual!” Stewart said, as Ricciardo began unbuckling his shoe.
Ricciardo poured the champagne into his boot, downing the lot in his signature shoey celebration.
“Bravo! Good vintage!”
https://twitter.com/ian_hendry79/status/873992227864948736
As the crowd cheered, Ricciardo – who convinced actor Gerard Butler into joining him in the ritual at last year’s US Grand Prix – asked Stewart if he would like to partake.
“I’d love some, yeah. Come on!” said Stewart. With one fateful, bellow of “Cheers!”, Stewart sank the champers in one go, without even flinching.
“I’m proud of you for doing that. That’s something I couldn’t do,” race winner Lewis Hamilton told Stewart in the immediate aftermath.
“You see how sweaty his feet are? There’s a lot of toe-jam in that shoe.”
That did not faze Stewart, who was clearly in party-animal mode.
“I don’t care, I don’t care!” Stewart said.
“I made the podium for the first time! I will drink out of anybody’s shoes!”
Ricciardo on a run
Ricciardo has now finished third in the past three grands prix and sits fifth on the driver standings.
Hamilton, who won by a leisurely 19.7 seconds, led from start to finish after taking pole position to collect his 56th career triumph.
The Briton was under attack early when Ricciardo’s Red Bull teammate Max Verstappen, who got a huge jump off the grid and launched from fifth to second by the first corner.
At the third corner, Romain Grosjean, and Carlos Sainz got into a tangle, which resulted in Sainz’s Toro Rosso spearing across the track, clipping the Williams of Felipe Massa and hitting the wall.
Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel also suffered front-wing damage at the restart and had to pit for a new nose.
The German then produced a storming drive to finish fourth, overtaking the Force India of Sergio Perez on the penultimate lap.
Ricciardo held enough of a gap to fend off the faster Ferrari.
“I had my first pole here, I had my first win here 10 years ago and to repeat it this weekend is incredibly special,” Hamilton said.
“I really have to thank my team for making this possible. The guys back at the factory have worked so hard to really fix what we had in the last race, bring it here and really give it to the Ferraris. I’m over the moon.”
Vettel still leads the driver standings on 141 points, with Hamilton second on 129 and Bottas third on 93.
Ricciardo now has 67 points, six behind Ferrari’s fourth-placed Kimi Raikkonen.
– With ABC