Daniel Ricciardo, McLaren, Silverstone, 2022

Ricciardo’s TV series will be “like Ballers or Entourage in the world of F1”

2022 British Grand Prix

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Daniel Ricciardo says the F1-based television series he’s developing is not intended to be a rival to the feature Lewis Hamilton is co-producing.

Details of the half-hour format scripted television series Ricciardo is developing with Hulu emerged earlier this week. Hamilton is working on an F1-themed feature film for Apple, starring Brad Pitt.

However Ricciardo made it clear he doesn’t consider his project a rival to Hamilton’s. “If anyone is like thinking of it is as like competition or something, it’s not at all,” he told media including RaceFans at Silverstone today.

“Obviously with what he’s doing, now the thing with Hulu with me and Netflix and all that and where the sport’s going, I think it’s actually cool that we’re using the pace of growth in Formula 1 to get into projects like this and push the sport out. So in a way, I see it as like we’re all supporting each other to support the sport.”

Ricciardo described his fictional series as being “like Ballers or Entourage in the world of F1.” He will be an executive producer.

Sebastian Vettel, Williams-Renault FW14B, Silverstone, 2022
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“I teamed up with Temple Hill, they know what they’re doing in that field so I’ve got my full trust in them,” he said. “I’m basically going to act as executive producer but try to steer the ship a little.

“It is fiction but I’ll try to give as much input that it stays on course and doesn’t go too far away where people are like ‘okay, this would never happen’. So I’m going to try and give the best advice I can when I can.”

The project is still in the early stages of development. “We’re at the point of now just finding a writer. I don’t want to put pressure on the time thing but hopefully by the end of the summer that’s all established. Then it should be casting.”

However Ricciardo doesn’t intend to appear in his own series. “I’m not planning to be in it, so it’s literally me from the outside or from afar. But if they need a good-looking stud to cameo…”

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Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...
Claire Cottingham
Claire has worked in motorsport for much of her career, covering a broad mix of championships including Formula One, Formula E, the BTCC, British...

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9 comments on “Ricciardo’s TV series will be “like Ballers or Entourage in the world of F1””

  1. Can anyone fill me in what sort of TV shows “Ballers” and “Entourage” are? I have never heard of them and wouldn’t even really know where to look (are they Australian shows?)

    1. @bascb Yeah me too, I’ve never seen either!

      The only thing I know about Entourage is the film spin-off was absolutely savaged by Mark Kermode on the BBC Radio 5 film review show (as it was).

    2. Basically dramedy’s about 30-something men with swag living the glamorous live of being young, rich, and talented, I suppose. Ballers stars The Rock, a retired NFL player turned manager. Where Entourage follows a group of childhood friends where one of them is a young up and coming actor, another is his manager, a third is his assistant and the final is his older brother who is a washed up tv actor… I.e. an actor and his “entourage”

      Entourage especially is worth checking out. Ballers was alright, but nothing I’d recommend going out of your way to see.

      1. Thanks for that @sjaakfoo, I too didn’t know what those shows were, though I do think I probably zapped passed entourage a few times. It does seem that doing something like that but set in F1 could work, so wish him and the series luck. Might not watch it, but Ricciardo is right that if done well it might enthuse people about F1 (and I suppose importantly for the teams, also those who like and can afford the VIP lifestyle?).

      2. Thanks for filling us in there @sjaakfoo!

    3. They are shows based on a particular person and everyone around them (entourage was about an actor and his friends about pretty much his every day life as an actor) and ballers is a tv show about a nfl agent (the rock) and his life around his work (signing athletes and all that agents do) so basically this would be about him showing his entourage telling him that he’s still a top 5 driver so his feelings are not hurt, or something similar.

  2. The Americanization of F1 continues. Expect commercial breaks and more bogus tourist “street circuit” venues in the future.

    1. Doing a series like that (as per description I got above), but not as part of F1 coverage to me might help to keep the official F1 content from having to stir in that direction @ryanoceros, though perhaps that’s too optimisitc, I’ll keep thinking that way ;)

  3. Chris Horton
    1st July 2022, 6:31

    Well this sounds awful.

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