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Ricciardo reveals the 'panic' of an inconclusive Covid-19 test, after the Tuscan Grand Prix

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BAHRAIN, BAHRAIN - DECEMBER 03: Daniel Ricciardo of Australia and Renault Sport F1 walks in the

Daniel Ricciardo has revealed he had an inconclusive Covid-19 test after the Tuscan Grand Prix, going on to say the experience had “scared” him and created “a bit of panic” before he retuned a subsequent negative result...

The Australian - currently fifth in the standings - added he was surprised by the result, which came after the Tuscan GP, given how careful he'd been, saying he'd become “more disciplined with isolating” after Sergio Perez became the first driver to test positive earlier in the year at Silverstone.

"I did wake up one morning with a false-positive, so I had a scare at 6am one morning,” said Ricciardo on a video call with media call in Abu Dhabi before later clarifying: “It wasn’t a false positive, [it was] inconclusive. Still scared me though!”

He added: "Then trying to figure out, okay we've got to get tested again, and there was a bit of panic and that wasn't fun.

As the season went on I became more and more disciplined with isolating or just taking care of myself, especially after Checo [Perez] got it

Renault's Daniel Ricciardo

"Obviously, I was fine in the end but that obviously was something I hadn't gone through before and then you start playing games in your head like 'do I feel a little..' and 'maybe I do have it and just', but that was a bit of panic one morning.

“As the season went on I became more and more disciplined with isolating or just taking care of myself, especially after Checo [Perez] got it and I was like 'Okay so this isn't a joke'.

"I was being very careful so I was quite surprised [by the result of the test]. Obviously, in the end I didn't have it but I was scratching my head."

Three drivers have tested positive for Covid-19 in 2020 – Perez, his Racing Point team mate Lance Stroll and reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton.

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