INTERNATIONAL: Daniel Ricciardo will auction his Australian Grand Prix helmet to raise money for flood relief efforts after the weekend's race, he explained on Thursday 7TH April.

The helmet, designed by Australian artist Reko Rennie, will be sold and proceeds given to Red Cross.

It has been a long awaited return to his home circuit for Australian Ricciardo, as the world championship circuit comes to Melbourne for the first time since the 2020 race was called off at the 11th hour as the COVID-19 pandemic first took a grip on Australia.

The 32-year-old eight-times Grand Prix winner's last race in Melbourne, his first for Renault, was effectively ended in the first few seconds when he lost his front end in the trackside grass, leaving him with even more of a sense of longing.

Now in his second season at McLaren, Ricciardo has good reason to question the competitiveness of his car after finishing 14th at the season-opener in Bahrain and being forced to retire in Saudi Arabia.

That is a stark contrast with his former team Red Bull, who have already got their first win of the season through world champion Max Verstappen.

Ricciardo, who twice finished fourth at Albert Park with Red Bull, accepts that there will always be questions about his decision to walk away from the team at the end of the 2018 season.

 DANIEL RICCIARDO SAID:

"It's all going, so everything that's auctioned will go to Red Cross for flood relief. Trying to just help rebuild communities that have been affected. I guess with Heineken, McLaren, use our platform for good, that's one way. And obviously Reko's put this together really nicely."

MICK SCHUMACHER SAID:

"So I went to see Robert (Irwin, son of Steve Irwin) which was great, great meeting him and his family. I grew up seeing Steve going into the wild and catching alligators and crocodiles and snakes and stuff, and it was always part of my childhood. And being there again now after so many years, seeing it in person, was really nice."