Daniel Ricciardo shares humiliating moment when Kimi Raikkonen caught him using ladies restroom

Former Formula 1 driver Daniel Ricciardo has said that Kimi Raikkonen once caught him using the women's toilet before a race early on in his career.

Ricciardo is currently the Red Bull reserve and simulator driver after parting ways with McLaren at the end of 2022. Raikkonen, meanwhile, retired from the sport in 2021, having last driven for Alfa Romeo.

Recalling an incident from 2007 during an appearance on the 96FM radio station in his hometown Perth, Ricciardo said that the queue for the men’s lavatory was too long, forcing him to use the women’s toilet to relieve himself. On his way out, though, he bumped into Raikkonen.

The Australian said:

“You don’t want to wee in a race car. The belts are so tight, and they are pushing in on you, and it’s just not fun. I tried recently doing it in a bottle, nup, doesn’t work. Everyone kind of queues up sometimes and because you don’t have much time.”

He added:

“There was like a females and a males, and I was like, ‘Look when you’ve got to go, you just go’. So I walked into the females, and as I was walking out Raikkonen goes, ‘All the women are in here’ or something like that. He was basically having a jab at me that I’m female.”

Ricciardo also said that he took the Finn's words personally, as he was new to the sport at the time:

“I was new and the way he kind of said it, he doesn’t really talk to anyone, I just took it personally. (I thought) one day I will show you I am a man!”

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“I don't want just any F1 seat next year” - Daniel Ricciardo on Formula 1 return

Daniel Ricciardo has said that he isn't looking to be "starting from scratch" if he returns to the F1 grid in 2024, as he hopes to be with a top team instead.

When asked about the possibility of a lack of seats next season in an interview with the BBC's Top Gear, Daniel Ricciardo said that he isn't worried about it:

"It doesn’t scare me. It’s always been like that. And I knew this was going to be a risk obviously removing myself from a seat. But I think it’s clear what I don’t want. I don’t want (just) any seat next year. … I don’t want to just start from zero, and kind of build my (F1) career from scratch."