In the fan zone at the Circuit of the Americas, next to a jar of earplugs and a few feet from an industrial sized jug of free sunscreen, sat a 3-inch thick book with heavy blank white pages. Fans were shuffling from the midday heat into the tent where the book sat, writing notes in Sharpie to Daniel Ricciardo, the man whose absence hung over the race weekend like a loved one lost.
“You were my first F1 favorite driver,” read one note in the book. “R.I.R. (Rest in Retirement),” another. “Come to COTA to see you & you weren’t here…so sad.”
It wasn’t hard to see all the signs that Ricciardo was meant to be at the U.S. Grand Prix. Literally, Ricciardo’s illustrated, Stetson-wearing face stood out front-and-center on a printed fabric mural of F1 drivers (all wearing cowboy gear) covering a fence at Turn 15. Saturday, in downtown Austin, Ricciardo’s clothing brand Enchanté launched a pop up store with a new capsule collection, conspicuously minus the man himself. Ricciardo facetimed a few lucky fans who’d lined up early for the opening, but otherwise the shop stayed a shop for the weekend. And that was him on the COTA website’s schedule of weekend events, wearing a University of Texas jersey and smiling next to a note about the driver’s parade happening from 12 to 12:30 on Sunday (just before the Globe of Death).
There had even been a rumor that Ricciardo was meant to receive the keys to the city — though when reached for comment, the mayor’s office responded that this was “news” to them.
And then there were the books. Twelve in total — thick black hardcovers sandwiching 600 pages of pristine paper, strewn throughout the fan areas surrounding the track. Signs touting “Letters to Cowboy Ric from Austin”, also featuring another illustrated Ricciardo-as-cowpoke, stood outside the tents. By Sunday morning three had been completely filled, with notes from fans claiming to be from Argentina, Israel, the UK, and beyond.
The books themselves had been the slightly off-handed idea of Bobby Epstein, chairman of COTA.
“We did it for the fans, but we did it for him, is really why we did it,” Epstein explained. “I feel like he's made so many contributions to our event and to the spirit of sport that we didn't want to see him walk away and not know that he was appreciated and loved and beloved. And if he’s not gonna have a farewell tour, then we're gonna give him at least some fond memories that he can look at any time he wants.”
Epstein was seeing one of the signed books for the first time Sunday morning, wondering what exactly he’d find inside. Flipping through, he excitedly asked, to whoever was in the room, for some bookmarks. A stack of Barbie-pink Post-Its was put in his hand, and he immediately started sticking them to pages. For what purpose, he wasn’t yet sure.
There were sketches of shoeys and full-page love letters, a few messages from haters and cute scrawl from children still confusing their lowercase Bs and Ds.
Ingrid, from Austin but attending her first F1 race ever, had Ricciardo on her mind. “Honestly, the way he left Singapore — the way he was kind of shoved out of Singapore, I should say — was really depressing,” she told Motorsport. “I was kind of hoping he'd be here in Austin.”
Writing in the book, she said, was a way connecting with him, even if it was a one-way street.
“I just wanted to be able to prove that I got the chance to write in the book that maybe he chose to flip through on a random day. Because this sport just brings me so much joy, and I wanted him to know that. Granted, he's never gonna know me — but he'll get to know my name in the book that I signed.”
Anamarie had driven from Dallas. She was wearing a Ferrari jacket, but talked about how Ricciardo sparked her Formula 1 fandom.
“I wrote him ‘thank you’ for getting me into the sport,” she said. “Without him, I wouldn’t be here today with my sisters at our first grand prix.”
Maureen and Valerie, two fans who’d just finished signing one of the books, had flown from the British Virgin Islands to attend the U.S. GP.
“I came from the Virgin Islands, so it wasn't easy to come here. And he is not even here!” said Maureen, Valerie’s travel partner.
“Danny Ric, I saw a video of him on Instagram and that's how I started following Formula 1,” said Valerie. “He is so charismatic and so good.“
Of course, you can only mourn for so long.
“However, I'm a little bit salty, because I'm a Lando fan, too. And he stole that point from Lando, fastest lap, in Singapore,” said Valerie.
Afterward, she asked if this reporter could share her Instagram handle with Norris.
“I’m single,” she explained.
