Renault boss, Cyril Abiteboul has revealed that he is at least free to choose the size and location of the tattoo after a beer-fuelled bet with Daniel Ricciardo.
This was after Daniel Ricciardo earned himself a podium finish by ranking third in the Eifel Grand Prix at the Nurburgring on Sunday. This was the first podium finish for Renault since they came back to F1 in 2016. Ricciardo is currently mulling over the design after winning a wager with Abiteboul that was set 15 months ago.
Abiteboul, who does not sport any tattoos in comparison to Ricciardo who currently has several, is now apprehensive as to what the Australian will choose. The Frenchman, though, does have some say in the matter.
Asked whether he and Ricciardo had set any rules, Abiteboul said: “I think he gets to choose the design and I get to choose the location and the size – because size matters.
“As long as I got the size, I think I can get away with pretty much any design.”
Revealing as to how the wager came about, Abiteboul said: “It [a tattoo] is not really my style. I guess that’s why I made that bet.
“I remember that night in Silverstone last year. Daniel was showing me a new tattoo that he had and I asked him ‘How do you get there? What’s the mental journey that gets to this type of tattoo?’
“He told me he was just walking in front of a tattoo place and he thought ‘Let’s do one’. I thought ‘Okay’ and I said ‘Let’s do something. If you do your podium – and it was after a few beers – I’ll do one’
“I’m a man of my word so I’ll do it. I just need a bit of time to decide the size and the location.”
Ricciardo believes the tattoo should possess “a German flavour” due to the location of him winning the bet.
“It is obviously the place we did it so a little tip of the hat to something traditional in Germany,” said Ricciardo.
With the Nordschleife suggested, Ricciardo added: “There’s going to be a lot of brainstorming. He’s going to be excited. The first one is always a fun one. We’ll think of some things – but yeah, [it] could be this.”