Ricciardo wants new bet: “He's got a pretty good car collection”

Tattoo for a podium finish

When Ricciardo signed with Renault, he made a bet with Abiteboul that if the Australian finished on the podium, Abiteboul would have to get a tattoo. At the Eifel Grand Prix, Ricciardo finished third and Abiteboul had to take the plunge. His second podium finish at Imola did not mean a second tattoo. 

Although we are now four months on, there is still no tattoo on the now-former team boss. "Unfortunately, it hasn't happened yet. But it will, it will", Ricciardo said at a press conference which was attended by GPBlog.com. “And we certainly left on the terms that there was still some unfinished business, that business being the tattoo. Obviously sooner rather than later, but it definitely will." 

New bet at McLaren

A similar bet doesn't seem to be on the cards at McLaren with team boss Zak Brown. In fact, according to Ricciardo, it had already been discussed. "We were just only a couple hours ago having some lunch with Zak [Brown] and he mentioned something about him hating needles. So I can't see the tattoo thing happening with Zak.” 

Still, Ricciardo doesn't want to rule out a bet straight away. "But we'll think of something else. I know he's got a pretty good car collection so maybe we could just bet for one of his cars or something!" Brown has an extensive collection of classic race cars, including Mario Andretti's Lotus 79, Ayrton Senna's McLaren MP4/6 and Mika Hakkinen's MP4-16. That may be one less at the end of the season.