Daniel Ricciardo delivered the perfect response that melted hearts of Formula 1 fans during an appearance on late night TV in America.

The Bathurst 12 Hour has witnessed a wild day of practice action on Friday ahead of Sunday’s race, with a massive crash sending shockwaves through the field – and former MotoGP legend Valentino Rossi making a statement by topping practice in his first ever laps around Mount Panorama.

Formula One is never more than a chicane away from an unseemly spat as last week’s surfacing of tensions between the sport’s custodians the FIA and its owners Liberty Media demonstrated F1 is basking in a resurgence of popularity, fuelled by the exploits of its leading actors Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen, adrenaline-sapping wheel-to-wheel racing, and an expanding fanbase driven in part by the success of Netflix’s fly-on-the-pitlane-wall series “Drive To Survive”.