The great benefit of being the joker in Formula 1’s pack is that Daniel Ricciardo can get away with saying things most of his rivals can’t. Often delivered on the cushion of his smile and with the accompanying giggle, his words lack the weight of, for instance, Max Verstappen at his most menacing or Fernando Alonso at his feistiest. So it was on the cool-down lap of the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, where Ricciardo – having just ended McLaren’s nine-year winless run and carved a little light into the tunnel of his most challenging season yet – addressed the non-believers. “For anyone who thought I left, I never left… just moved aside for a while,” Ricciardo said over...
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