Born in 1989, Daniel Ricciardo was an Australian F1 driver for 14 years before he retired in 2024. Ricciardo began karting at the age of nine years old and moved his way up the ranks, where he had his most success at the time, in F3. By 2011, he made his F1 debut at the British Grand Prix with HRT (Hispania Racing Team) and remained with the team for the rest of the season before being promoted to Toro Rosso’s race team for the 2012 season. Ricciardo was quick to score points in 2012 at Toro Rosso and became a regular contender for points in the remaining half of the season. He continued his point streak into the 2013 season, and when Mark Webber announced his retirement from F1, Ricciardo replaced his seat at Red Bull in 2014.
Ricciardo had raced his best while at Red Bull. He won his first F1 race in 2014 at the Canadian GP, along with the Hungary and Belgian GPs. Unfortunately, he didn’t have any wins in 2015, but won a single race in 2016 at the Malaysian GP. However, he was “robbed” of the win at Monaco. The Monaco track is one of the most difficult tracks of the season. Once the grid is set for the race, it hardly ever changes due to the difficulty of the track, with minimal places to attempt to pass another car. Ricciardo got pole position and was leading the race by 13 seconds, which is above average for a gap time between first and second place. Red Bull called Ricciardo in for a pit stop, and the mechanics didn’t have the tires for him ready by the time he reached the pits. Ricciardo was furious, and rightfully so, because by the time the team actually changed the tires, his 13-second lead was blown, and Lewis Hamilton passed Ricciardo as he was coming out of the pit lane and went on to win the race. The race haunted him for two years, while he placed third at Monaco in the following year, and won the Azerbaijan GP. However, he had his redemption in 2018, where he deservedly placed first. Along with the Monaco win in 2018, he also won in China and placed in fifth and sixth place for the drivers’ championship in 2017 and 2018. Though his best races were arguably in 2018 at Monaco and China, he placed best in the driver’s championship in 2014 and 2016, placing third overall.
Ricciardo announced for the 2019 season that he would leave Red Bull and join Renault. Unfortunately, with Renault, he dropped to ninth in the driver’s championship, but was able to move up to fifth in the 2020 season. He then once again announced that he was leaving Renault to join McLaren for the 2021 season. He only won the Italian GP in 2021, but finished eighth in the driver’s championship that season, and had a disappointing season in 2022, where he dropped down to 11th place, far behind his teammate, Lando Norris, which ultimately caused Ricciardo not to secure a racing seat in F1 for the beginning of 2023.
In the middle of the 2023 season, Ricciardo ended up replacing one of the drivers at Scuderia AlphaTauri, formally known as Toro Rosso. However, an unfortunate incident occurred during the Dutch GP. McLaren driver, Oscar Piastri, crashed into the wall during one of the turns, and his car was sticking out into the track with Ricciardo behind him. Due to the timing of the crash and the placement of Ricciardo, he only had two options: either hit Piastri and cause further damage and possible injuries, or crash into the wall without hitting Piastri. Ricciardo chose the latter and crashed into the wall, but sustained a broken hand and was sidelined for months. Despite his short performance in 2023, AlphaTauri (later named Racing Bulls) announced Ricciardo would continue racing for the team.
The 2024 season was Ricciardo’s most difficult season. Through 18 races, Ricciardo was among the top-10 finishers only three times, with eighth place his best finish, and he was 14th in the driver’s championship. In September, after the Singapore Grand Prix, RB announced that it was replacing Ricciardo with Liam Lawson for the season’s final six races, which ultimately caused Ricciardo to formally announce his retirement from F1.
Despite Ricciardo’s struggles and successes on the track, the most remarkable thing about him was his personality. He was the most enjoyable and upbeat driver on the grid, with a hilarious personality. He was teammates with Sebastian Vettel for a year at Red Bull, and developed a close friendship with him despite both drivers moving to different teams. In 2015, Ricciardo was paired up with Daniil Kvyat, with whom he also formed a friendship. At the US GP, the race was delayed due to heavy rain, and Ricciardo and Kvyat decided to entertain themselves by dancing in the rain. In 2016, Ricciardo became teammates with Max Verstappen, and was one of the most iconic duos on the grid. Verstappen was often uptight, but outside of racing, Ricciardo formed a bromance and got Verstappen out of his shell. They shared hilarious moments such as an interview in Australia between Max and Daniel, their festive messages to fans, and many of their other interviews together. While Daniel had other teammates, none were as funny as he and Max were together. However, in my opinion, one of Daniel’s funniest moments was when he appeared on an episode of Top Gear, where he did an interview with Jeremy Clarkson about F1, because of the jokes he made with both Clarkson and the fans in the audience. Daniel Ricciardo was most beloved by both fans and his fellow competitors. In fact, Ted Kravitz at Sky Sports did a thank-you message following Daniel’s last race in Singapore: “Thank you to Daniel Ricciardo, thank you for that smile, thank you for the shoeys, thanks for ‘I never left,’ thanks for that gorgeous nose of his, thanks for coming into the paddock on that horse in Austin. Thanks for the Enchante merch, thanks for the red wine, thanks for those cowboy boots that he wears sometimes. Thanks for licking the stamp and sending it. Thank you for being honest. Thank you for being a gentleman, and thank you for being a proper great Aussie drongo bloke. Daniel Ricciardo, we love you. If this is it, thank you so much.” Despite Daniel’s ups and downs, he will forever be loved and missed by the F1 community, as he is pursuing his goals.