#danielricciardo
Daniel Joseph Ricciardo (b. 1 July 1989) is an Australian racing driver, who most recently competed in F1 from 2011 to 2024. Ricciardo won 8 F1 Grands Prix across 14 seasons.
Born and raised in Perth, Ricciardo began competitive kart racing aged 9. Graduating to junior formulae in 2005, Riccardo debuted in his regional Formula Ford championship. He won his 1st title at the 2008 Formula Renault 2.0 West European Cup with SG Formula, before winning the 2009 British Formula 3 Championship with Carlin. Ricciardo then progressed to Formula Renault 3.5, finishing runner-up to Mikhail Aleshin by 2 points in his rookie season. Ricciardo made his F1 debut at the 2011 British GP with HRT as part of the Red Bull Junior Team, replacing Narain Karthikeyan for the remainder of the 2011 season. He earned a full-time drive with Toro Rosso in 2012 and competed in 2 seasons for them alongside Jean-Éric Vergne, scoring several points finishes in each.
Ricciardo was promoted to Red Bull in 2014, replacing the retiring Mark Webber to partner 4-time defending World Drivers’ Champion Sebastian Vettel. In his first season with Red Bull under Renault power, Ricciardo finished third in the championship, taking his maiden victory at the Canadian GP, with further wins in Hungary & Belgium. After a winless 2015 campaign for Red Bull, Ricciardo returned to the top of the podium at the Malaysian GP in 2016, eventually clinching third in the standings again. He took further wins for Red Bull at the Azerbaijan GP in 2017, as well as the Chinese & Monaco Grands Prix in 2018. Ricciardo signed with Renault in 2019, finishing a season-best 4th in Italy. He retained his seat for his 2020 campaign, achieving multiple podiums and finishing 5th in the championship. He then joined McLaren in 2021 to partner Lando Norris, achieving his only race win and podium for the team at the Italian GP. Amid struggles for form, Ricciardo left McLaren at the end of the 2022 season and re-signed as a reserve driver for Red Bull in 2023. From the Hungarian GP onwards, Ricciardo replaced Nyck de Vries at AlphaTauri; he retained his seat for their 2024 campaign as RB, but was replaced by Liam Lawson after the Singapore GP.
Ricciardo achieved 8 race wins, 3 pole positions, 17 fastest laps & 32 podiums in F1. Ricciardo was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in the 2022 Australia Day Honours.
He was born on 1 July 1989 in Perth, Western Australia, to Italian-Australian parents. His father, Giuseppe “Joe” Ricciardo, was born in Ficarra, but relocated to Australia with his family at age 7. Ricciardo’s mother, Grace Pulitanò was born in Australia, but had parents originally from Casignana. Ricciardo also has a sister; Michelle. Growing up in Duncraig, Ricciardo’s earliest memories of motorsports were of his father racing at the nearby Barbagallo Raceway in Wanneroo. Raised Catholic, he attended high school at Newman College. He started karting at the age of 9.
He is known for his aggressive style as well as favouring a late braking manoeuvre to engineer overtakes. Ricciardo also prefers to carry more speed through the corner by making it more of a ‘U’ shape, utilising a little rear instability on entry to turn in, and enough grip to rotate the car mid-corner without the rear breaking away.
He is known for his laid back nature & smile, with The NYT describing him in 2016 saying, “If a survey could be made of the 22 F1 drivers to establish who smiles the most, has the sunniest disposition and seems to be generally the nicest guy, Ricciardo would surely be the leader.” His personal profile grew with the success of the reality show Drive to Survive, where he has been called “the face of the show”. After the 2021 season, Ricciardo was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in the 2022 Australia Day Honours for “significant service to motor sport as a competitor and ambassador, and to the community”.
Ricciardo is often referred to as “the honey badger” referencing his racing style, explaining how “it’s supposed to be the most fearless animal in the animal kingdom. When you look at it, he seems quite cute & cuddly, but as soon as someone crosses his territory in a way he doesn’t like, he turns into a bit of a savage and he’ll go after anything – tigers, pythons – he turns very quickly, but he’s a good guy.”
Growing up as a fan of NASCAR Cup Series driver Dale Earnhardt, Ricciardo adopted the number 3 as his racing number in Earnhardt’s honour.
Ricciardo supports the Australian Football League’s West Coast Eagles & was the club’s number-one ticket holder in 2015 & 2016.
He is also a UFC fan and, during the course of his F1 career, developed an affinity for the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League. He supports Big Bash League team the Melbourne Stars, as childhood friend & Australian cricketer Marcus Stoinis represents the team.
He is in a relationship with Heidi Berger, the daughter of former F1 driver Gerhard Berger.
Wikipedia
1 Comment
to be honest he is overrated