When Kimi Raikkonen caught Daniel Ricciardo using the women’s toilet

Daniel Ricciardo has recalled a hilarious exchange with Kimi Raikkonen when the Iceman caught him using the women’s toilet before a Formula 1 race.

With drivers taking on fluids before a race, there is usually a last-minute stampede for toilets when the cars are prepared on the grid.

And, appearing on the 96FM radio station in his hometown Perth, Ricciardo has told a tale from the early days of his F1 career when he was caught using the ladies’ toilet by 2007 World Champion Raikkonen.

Judging the queue for the men’s lavatory to be too long, Ricciardo answered the call of nature in the women’s toilet and bumped into his rival on the way out – the Australian taking a cheeky remark by Raikkonen personally.

Ricciardo explained: “You don’t want to wee in a race car.

“The belts are so tight and they are pushing in on you and it’s just not fun.

“I tried recently doing it in a bottle, nup, doesn’t work.

“Everyone kind of queues up sometimes and because you don’t have much time.

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“There was like a females and a males, and I was like, ‘Look when you’ve got to go, you just go’.

“So I walked into the females and as I was walking out Raikkonen goes, ‘All the women are in here’ or something like that.

“He was basically having a jab at me that I’m female.

“I was new and the way he kind of said it, he doesn’t really talk to anyone, I just took it personally.

“[I thought] One day I will show you I am a man!”

This was not the only occasion that Ricciardo was irritated by Raikkonen’s behaviour, the current Red Bull reserve driver telling Esquire magazine in 2020 how he was affronted by the Finn ignoring him on the grid.

He said: “On the grid, I tend to be quite friendly with people, but if I smile at someone and they blank me — it kind of p****s me off.

“I take it personally for sure. I remember Kimi used to give me the cold shoulder and I took that personally.

“I would make a mental note of it and on track if I was ever feeling generous it was never going to be towards him.”