Ricciardo says training ‘more productive’ than sim racing

Daniel Ricciardo has so far refrained from joining F1’s Esports community, opting to focus instead on his productive physical training but also for fear of becoming consumed by the online craze.

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Formula 1’s forced hiatus amid the coronavirus crisis has spurred a strong interest in sim racing, both from fans and participants.

While Max Verstappen and Lando Norris have been racing online for years, the likes of Charles Leclerc, George Russell, Nicholas Latifi or Alex Albon joined the fray only recently, but so far the group is showing unwavering enthusiasm for the virtual world.

But Ricciardo, who is spending his lockdown on the family farm in Australia, says his chances of racing online against Verstappen, his former Red Bull teammate, are “slim”.

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“He’s all about the sim stuff,” the Aussie told The New Daily. “I wanna say he’s spending more than 50 per cent of his waking day on one. So yeah, I’m not there.

“I just know with my competitive nature, if I got one, I’m going to be spending hours on it a day.

“And before you know, I’m missing training sessions racing these sims, and I feel that the training is more productive.

“I’m very self-motivated. I would say most times I even prefer training alone. I’d love to go running alone and just getting my own space, listen to music and get in my zone.

“I’m missing the racing and I’ve got that bug in me that I just want to go again, so I’m staying ready and, and that’s kind of my driving purpose.”

“If we have a good day training, it is nice to just put a TV show on and indulge in a season of Ozark [on Netflix].

“Now there’s ‘The Last Dance’ on. I grew up a Michael Jordan fan, so that’s certainly appealing for me.

“But otherwise, I think I’m quite lucky to be on the farm. I’m not locked in an apartment just with only really my phone or the internet as an escape.

“I’ve even tried to introduce some phone detox days, where you don’t really use your phone because hours can go by and I don’t really want to get indulged too much in that.”