Hey! When Did Ricciardo Talked About Mental Health?

Hey! When did Ricciardo talked about mental health?

Hi my love 🧡✨

Before I dive in: I am someone that has struggled, still struggles, with mental health. I want to take a moment to just say that my blog is a safe space for anyone that wants to vent/rant or just talk about their own struggles. We are not alone, my shoulders are free for you to cry on and I will never ever judge. If you ever feel the need: send me an ask (anon or not) or a message and I'm here for you. You are stronger than you think!

You wouldn't suspect it maybe, Daniel's bouncy/positive energy often lets us think everything is alright, but he has been speaking out about mental health for a good while now! He really started opening up about mental health in 2017.

He became one of the ambassadors of The Inner Ninja Foundation, an Australian based charity founded by Stefani Caminiti. The Inner Ninja Foundation gets its power from lived expertise to help people with mental health issues. His quote on their site is: "Through raising awareness and smashing stigmas, we can improve and save lives of people living with mental illness."

In 2017 he said, "I’ve got some friends who have gone through some stuff. There are a few people who have been closer to me so I’m trying to do my little part if I can and help out. To be honest it’s something that is quite new me to me in terms of my understanding of it all. Only within the last six or so months I’ve lets say opened my eyes to it a bit more. It’s not something that many people talk about but it happens and it’s a big problem to a lot of people. It’s a big fight overcoming such a thing so I think the more people that have some of these issues, we’re trying to say get it out there and address it. And don’t let things bottle up for too long and make a small problem turn into a big one." You can find this quote in this article by The Versed and this article by GP Today.

Daniel hit a low point in 2018, which turned out to be his last season with Red Bull Racing. He looked back on this time in 2020 and said this, "I think the last year at Red Bull was probably emotionally the most tough I think because at the start of the year it looked like I was maybe competing for a Championship. And then mid-year realised I wanted to move on." You can read more about it in this PlanetF1 interview and in this Essentially Sport interview.

Besides talking about his own hardships, he participated in an event in 2020. In this second season with Renault, he joined a call with the Renault UK's Mental Health Champions. In it he spoke about stress and how he handles it. I think the most beautiful thing coming from this talk, and something I have wanted to introduce to my blog as well, is this quote by Daniel, "I feel it’s an important subject and everyone needs to speak up about mental health and feel happy to do so. It’s prevalent in all walks of life and it’s all about sharing experiences and knowledge. This discussion with Renault UK’s Mental Health Champions is a perfect example of this and that you don’t necessarily need to know each other to talk openly and confidently about the topic." WTF1, F1 Chronicle and GP Fans wrote articles on this talk as well.

Michael Italiano, Daniel's performance coach and best friend, spoke up about how important a good mental health is for drivers in this Drive Tribe article. He said this, "Yes, you are away from friends and family for most of the year, it's a big sacrifice. Alone in your hotel room a lot, so it can definitely weigh on people's lives for sure and provide mental challenges."

And now, he is obviously with McLaren who have signed a partnership with MIND UK last season. I'm so happy we are talking more and more about mental health, coming from a background with depression and a panic disorder myself. F1 is a ruthless, highly demanding, stressful sport. The pressures are high. Besides Daniel, Lewis and Pierre also spoke up about mental health in Baku this year. Formula Rapida wrote an article on it.