Who Emma Raducanu said was her favorite Formula One driver over Lewis Hamilton

Emma Raducanu has interest in Formula One (F1) as well as tennis.

Raducanu is one of the biggest tennis stars in the world, and has been since she shocked the world by winning the US Open title as a qualifier in 2021.

After becoming a Grand Slam champion over four years ago, Raducanu received some advice from Lewis Hamilton.

Although Raducanu was appreciative of the advice she was given by Hamilton, she actually named a different F1 driver as her favorite in 2020.

Emma Raducanu said her favorite F1 driver was Daniel Ricciardo

A year before she became a big star in tennis, Raducanu was competing at the UK Pro League tournament in 2020.

After the then 17-year-old picked up an impressive win over her compatriot Harriet Dart, Raducanu was asked about her love for F1.

This is where Raducanu expressed her love for the sport and revealed that it was actually Australian Daniel Ricciardo who was her favorite driver, instead of Hamilton.

“When I have time I love to watch Formula One and I’ve started to follow it week-by-week,” said Raducanu, as reported by TNT Sports.

“I watched the British Grand Prix and Daniel Ricciardo is my favourite driver! Off the track it seems like there’s so much banter with him, and he’s super laid back and chilled, and I think once he gets in the car he’s also super fiercely competitive.

“As tennis players, we can learn a lot from their reactions – you have to see everything so fast because the speeds that they’re going at are unbelievable. Those reactions and instincts can relate a lot to tennis.

“The intensity of the focus is also similar and transferable, but tennis is a lot more luxurious. If you make a mistake it’s not the end of the world but in F1 if you make a mistake, you’re in the wall.”

When did Emma Raducanu do motorsport?

Raducanu’s enjoyment for watching F1 actually stems from participating in motorsport as a young child.

Between the ages of five and eight, Raducanu would do go-karting, before moving on to motocross from the age of nine.

However, Raducanu decided to pick tennis as her sport of choice, as she was only able to do one due to the amount of commitment they require.

When asked about her motorsport days in an interview with Porsche, Raducanu explained that she liked the feeling of going fast.

“I thought it was cool and a lot of fun,” said Raducanu. “The better I got, the more I enjoyed the feeling of speed and control.”

She added, “Which kid doesn’t like getting dirty in the mud?”