„You look like you do this since forever."
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Daniel Ricciardo is 35 years old and his life change in few seconds. It was his best drive since he left Red Bull but it end up with accident and now he had to left Formula one world.
His parents...
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Perth Zoo.
This inscription was on a sign above the entrance to the place that would be Daniel's workplace for the rest of his life, as he couldn't do anything else after that accident.
Perth Zoo would be his new home. He would trade a paddock with beautiful Formula cars for animals. He didn't know if it was an improvement—according to some people, yes, but in his own mind, definitely not.
The accident. The worst half-minute of his life. Upside down, the smell of fire all around, and a piece of his own Formula car, which was supposed to lead him to victory, crushing his leg. It took half a minute for rescuers to get him out of the car, but it was too late. Smoke in his lungs, burns, and on top of that, broken bones. Romain Grosjean, whose accident looked more drastic than his, escaped with minor injuries—life was sometimes unfair.
Daniel was only 35, and his career was getting back to the level it was before he left Red Bull. He was finally feeling like he could win a race again. A minor collision with Lewis Hamilton was enough, and you could hang up your helmet because you no longer had the strength to race in Formula One. His left leg was almost useless. It hurt with every step, and he had to go to rehabilitation to fix everything—the damned piece had damaged his nerves, and the rescuers couldn't save it in time, leaving him with lifelong consequences. His leg didn't have the strength to press the pedal in the Formula, so he had no choice but to end his professional Formula One career.
He spent a month in the hospital, where doctors tried to fix everything so he could at least stand on the leg. Fortunately, that worked. For a while, it looked like he might even lose the leg, which he probably wouldn't have been able to cope with at all—he didn't want to lose his leg. He spent another two months in Monaco, attending rehabilitation, but eventually realized that he wouldn't be able to stay in Monaco for long. He had enough money, but in a few years, it would ruin him, and he preferred to live in a cheaper place without worrying about running out of money.
He moved back to Australia. Specifically to Perth. The place where he was born and lived until he was thirteen. At that age, he moved to England to continue with go-karts there, because Europe had the best competition—only by sacrificing his childhood did he get to where he was. Only by leaving his parents at such a young age could he win races and be among the top twenty.
Suddenly, all those years seemed pointless. Twenty-six years. That was the time Daniel dedicated to motorsport and go-karts, and suddenly it seemed completely pointless. Suddenly, it felt like he had lost friends for nothing, skipped school for nothing, and gave his all every day just to not crash in Formula and to win.
All those years seemed pointless when it ended with an unexpected end to his career.
All those years of hard work and toil. All those buckets of sweat he shed during training. All the blood he coughed up when the training was really tough. It was all pointless. None of it mattered anymore.
