F1 Racer Daniel Ricciardo Brings a Touch of Class to Wine Brand St Hugo

Production company Anattic once again worked with Daniel Ricciardo, the not-to-be-underestimated nice guy of Formula 1, to create a commercial for the launch of his limited edition St Hugo Wine, named DR3.

The film opens to Daniel seated formally beside a dimly lit fire, his dinner jacket buttoned and classical music playing - it could be first mistaken as any other celebrity alcohol endorsement.

Until, he deep dives into an elaborate monologue about DR3, and although he manages to sustain this role for an impressive 15 seconds, he can't help but break character with his natural, exuberant laughter. From there returns the Daniel we are accustomed to; light-hearted, high-spirited, and even flashing us a cheeky wink.

This fresh and playful commercial was co-directed by James Copson and Matt Page. While Matt and James have always had a collaborative relationship, this was the first time they made it official. It seemed the pair were thriving in their honeymoon phase and it was a good job as they had only 4 hours with Daniel to achieve an ambitious shot list.

The tight time frame meant preparation was key. The crew were mainly Manchester-based and had traveled down to London the night before for the shoot. James reflects: “To have people I know and work with a lot and trust, and see them come together all professionally and do a really good job in London was quite nice...I felt really good, really proud.”

“...To be Northern,” Matt chips in.

It wasn’t pie and chips for tea but having such a well-oiled crew was as satisfying. With Milda Baginskaite, art director, adding her sparkle, Grace Leivers bringing style, and DOP James Stier working his magic to capture it all. 

​Not to mention, that there was the added dimension of working with clients from quite literally the other side of the world, as the shoot was smoothly live-streamed to the Australian client so they could give real-time feedback.

Matt reports on how their numerous previous experiences with live streaming Music for clients such as Amazon Music and ellesse has meant that “we have really fine tuned it [Live Streaming] now for international clients." He also adds that this shoot was “the busiest four hours we have ever had.” 

Just a few short weeks later and Daniel has successfully launched his now sold out wine. He posted the commercial on his social media alongside the caption that DR3 is NOT to be used for a shoey - for those not familiar, a shoey is Daniel's signature celebration that, as you would or wouldn't imagine, involves (responsibly) drinking an alcoholic beverage out of a shoe. Although, as established, this practice is not suited to DR3 - you don't want to spill a drop.

This production was filmed under covid restrictions, following recommended government guidelines at the time and industry standard production guidelines.