Ricciardo mulling over bet plan with needle-phobic McLaren boss

Daniel Ricciardo has ruled out a repeat of last year's infamous tattoo bet at McLaren - but he is mulling over a new wager with CEO Zak Brown.

Midway through last season, it became common knowledge Ricciardo and former-Renault team principal Cyril Abiteboul had engaged in a wager whereby the latter would get a tattoo if the Australian netted a podium.

After a run of near-misses as Ricciardo finished fourth on three occasions, the 31-year-old finally collected silverware with his third-place finish at the Eifel Grand Prix.

Since the end of last season, Ricciardo has switched to McLaren while Abiteboul has left Renault.

Asked if Abiteboul had been inked, Ricciardo answered: “You will definitely know when I get it done with Cyril.

"Unfortunately, it hasn’t happened yet but it will, and we certainly left on the terms that there was still some unfinished business and that business is the tattoo.

“So I hope it does happen, obviously, sooner rather than later but it definitely will."

As to whether he had engaged in a similar bet with McLaren Racing CEO Brown, that is off the table due to him being needle-phobic.

That has not deterred Ricciardo from being intent on placing a new wager, with his eyes on something special.

"He [Brown] mentioned something about him hating needles so I can’t see the tattoo thing happening with Zak but we’ll think of something else," insisted Ricciardo.

“I know he’s got a pretty good car collection so maybe we just bet for one of his cars or something.”

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