Daniel Ricciardo scraps sex ban with Aussie dating daughter of former F1 star

Daniel Ricciardo broke his own sex ban after meeting former F1 ace Gerhard Berger’s daughter Heidi. Ricciardo admitted he used to abstain ahead of race weekends but has ditched the concept in recent years.

The Australian F1 ace even laughed that he went quicker on Sundays after getting intimate than the ones he went without. Ricciardo made the admission on The Armchair Expert podcast when asked by Dax Shepard why athletes refuse to bonk ahead of events.

The ex-Red Bull star replied: “I used to, but not anymore. I went against my rules obviously once and I was probably even better on Sunday, so it’s all good. It’s easy to have a lack of accountability if you’ve got a superstition. It’s kind of like an excuse for something to go wrong. I might brush off the reality of why I had a bad race because I didn’t put my sock on the right way.

“I don’t like it. If that was my tradition and I forgot to do it and I’m jumping in a car that’s doing 200 miles an hour, is that good for my headspace? You can’t have anything like that creeping in.”

Ricciardo is understood to have started dating Berger back in 2019 but they only made their relationship official 12 months ago. The pair were spotted riding a helicopter in St Tropez back in June 2021 which only fuelled the speculation.

However, Ricciardo posted images of the pair enjoying a trip to Los Angeles at the end of last summer. And the former McLaren driver appeared to be smitten with the New York university student as he confirmed he was “in love”.

Speaking to the Fitzy and Wippa show, Ricciardo explained: “Yeah mate, I’m in love, I got a good thing going, so yeah. I’ve got a good balance in life right now.”

Ricciardo also suggested he had a good relationship with Heidi’s father who raced in F1 in the 1980s and 1990s. Berger won 10 F1 races in a decade in the sport after stints at Ferrari, McLaren and Benetton.

The Austrian also enjoyed a close friendship with three-time world champion Ayrton Senna. Ricciardo commented: “When I was young, I mean I’ve followed F1 since I was a kid and I had a Berger hat.

“It’s funny, I talk about it with him. He still goes to quite a few races he still has an interest in the sport and he still does some business with it. Any ex-sportsman, anyone who’s been through it — I just love speaking to them and gaining knowledge and insight through their experience there’s so much wisdom.”