Daniel Ricciardo enjoyed a better day on the track at Sunday's French Grand Prix - but it's fair to say he didn't play a blinder off it.
Certainly not in terms of attempts to speak Italian anyway, labelling teammate Lando Norris a "s***head" in his post-match interview. That was despite the pair recording a double points finish for McLaren for only the fourth time this season.
Ricciardo, 33, started 11th on the grid at the Circuit Paul Ricard, eventually rising to ninth. Norris was two places in front in seventh, with the pair benefitting from initial race leader Charles Leclerc crashing out.
But things didn't go smoothly afterwards for 'The Honey Badger', as he attempted to give a post-race interview in Italian. The Australian born star's father, Giuseppe, was born in Sicily before emigrating down under.
But Ricciardo clearly needs to brush up on his father's native language, given his answer to a question about Norris, 22. On four occasions, he used the term 'stronzo', which translates to 'sh**head' or 'a**hole' in English.
The interviewer frantically tried to stop Ricciardo repeating the term, albeit unsuccessfully, before the ex- Red Bull man twigged that he'd made a mistake: 'Is it not a good word?" he asked.
"It is a bad word - more bad than good," the journalist replied. Ricciardo then tried to make light of the situation, smiling nervously as he said "Oh, scusa," which translates to 'sorry' in Italian.
The Perth-born driver didn't clarify what he actually meant to say, but it did appear that he was trying to compliment Norris. And the incident was met with amusement from fans after journalist @MicheleMassa20 posted the interview on Twitter.
"HERE IS THE VIDEO AHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA," she wrote, with the post soon racking up hundreds of retweets and thousands of likes. And many followers referred to Ricciardo's cheeky reaction when learning of his mishap.
"Children when they learn a new word and that word is a dirty word," said @claudipin_, while @thatmillix suggested this wasn't the first time he'd slipped up: "I remember that time when he said: 'This one, Perez, is a bit of an idiot' and then he pretended not to know what it meant."
@PercivalEclair suggested Ricciardo had been duped, writing: "As a foreigner I can tell you that as a child they made me learn swear words saying that they were compliments."
McLaren boss Zak Brown will no doubt be more focused on the improved form of his drivers, than he will be Ricciardo's slip of the tongue. The British team lie fifth in the Constructors' standings, four points off fourth-placed Alpine.
