"I went into instant regret mode"- Daniel Ricciardo thought the home fans would 'absolutely hate' him after he hit Lando Norris with a 'space hopper' at 2022 F1 British GP

Daniel Ricciardo reportedly thought that the home crowd at Silverstone would “absolutely hate” him after he hit McLaren teammate Lando Norris with a “space hopper” during a promotional event ahead of the 2022 F1 British GP.

Ricciardo said that he went into “instant regret mode” after he hit Norris and was reportedly worried about potential injuries to the Briton. Speaking at a promotional event for one of McLaren’s sponsors ahead of the 2022 F1 French GP, the ‘Honey Badger’ said:

“As soon as it left my hands, I was like ‘oh no, he’s literally going to fly backwards and injure himself, and I’ve done it in front of his home crowd. The British fans that I have are now going to absolutely hate me and Lando is going to be hurt and not be able to race’ – all these things quickly ran through my head.”

He added, saying:

“I went into instant regret mode and… oh my gosh. Luckily, someone was watching saying ‘Lando will not be hurt, and everything will be OK!’.”

Ahead of the 2022 F1 British GP, Daniel Ricciardo and Lando Norris participated in a pre-race event on Silverstone’s pit straight, directly in front of a packed grandstand audience. The event consisted of them competing against each other in a space hopper race.

Ricciardo seemed to fare much better than Norris in the event and seemed on the verge of victory when the latter decided to cheat and started to run towards the finish line while holding up his space hopper.

Just as he was overtaking Ricciardo, however, the Australian grabbed his space hopper from underneath him and whacked Norris in the face. The moment was witnessed by thousands of fans present at the venue.

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Hitting Lando Norris at Silverstone was akin to being back at school, says Daniel Ricciardo

Daniel Ricciardo says the momentary panic that he experienced after hitting Lando Norris took him back to his school days. He said:

“It literally took me back to being at school. You know at school, as soon as you do something you know is wrong, it’s like you instantly have instant regret? It’s like ‘why did I just do that?’ and it was a kind of the same feeling that took me back to if I was doing something silly at school which you know is going to get back to the teacher or the principal – it was the same.”

Ricciardo seems to have developed a strong partnership with Norris over the last few months compared to last season when their relationship seemed much more frosty.