Daniel Ricciardo
Daniel Joseph Ricciardo is an Australian former racing driver who competed in Formula One from to. Nicknamed "the Honey Badger", Ricciardo won eight Formula One Grands Prix across 14 seasons.
Born and raised in Perth to Italian-Australian parents, Ricciardo began competitive kart racing at the age of nine. Graduating to junior formulae in 2005, Ricciardo debuted in his regional Formula Ford championship. He won his first title at the 2008 Formula Renault 2.0 WEC with SG Formula, before winning the 2009 British Formula 3 Championship with Carlin. He then progressed to Formula Renault 3.5, finishing runner-up to Mikhail Aleshin by two points in his rookie season. Ricciardo made his Formula One debut at the 2011 British Grand Prix with HRT as part of the Red Bull Junior Team, replacing Narain Karthikeyan for the remainder of. He earned a full-time drive with Toro Rosso in and alongside Jean-Éric Vergne, scoring several points finishes in each. Ricciardo was promoted to Red Bull in, replacing the retiring Mark Webber to partner defending four-time 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, with further wins in Hungary and Belgium. After a winless campaign for Red Bull, he took his maiden pole position in Monaco and won the in, clinching third overall again. He took further wins for Red Bull at the in, as well as the Chinese and Monaco Grands Prix in. Ricciardo signed with Renault in, finishing a season-best fourth in Italy. He retained his seat for his campaign, achieving multiple podiums and finishing fifth overall. He then joined McLaren in to partner Lando Norris, achieving his only victory and podium for the team at the. Following inconsistent performances, Ricciardo left McLaren at the end of and returned to Red Bull as a reserve driver in. From the onwards, he replaced Nyck de Vries at AlphaTauri; he retained his seat for their campaign as RB, but was replaced by Liam Lawson after the.
Ricciardo achieved race wins, pole positions, fastest laps, and podiums in Formula One. Upon his retirement in 2025, he became the global ambassador for Ford Racing. Ricciardo was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in the 2022 Australia Day Honours.
Early life
Daniel Joseph Ricciardo 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 seven. 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.Junior racing career
Karting
Ricciardo started karting at the age of nine as a member of the Tiger Kart Club and entered numerous karting events.Lower
In 2005, Ricciardo entered the Western Australian Formula Ford championship driving a fifteen-year-old Van Diemen, finishing eighth by season's end.Towards the end of the 2005 season, Ricciardo took a leased thirteen-year-old Van Diemen across to Sandown Raceway in Melbourne to compete at the national Formula Ford series, but his aging car was uncompetitive, and he finished 16th, 17th and retired during the weekend's three races.
That year, Ricciardo was more successful in karts, in which he was crowned the Australian champion. His prizes for the win included a pass to the 2006 Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park, Melbourne, where the then-16-year-old savoured a taste of his own future by chatting unnoticed with Italian driver Jarno Trulli and Miss Universe 2004, Jennifer Hawkins.
After finishing sixth in 2007 Formula Renault 2.0 Italia, Ricciardo was selected by Red Bull Junior Team.
Formula Three
During the mid-part of the 2008 season, Ricciardo made his Formula Three debut at the Nürburgring, joining SG Formula's Formula 3 Euro Series team. Despite only a short amount of experience in the car, Ricciardo qualified in eighth for the first race, which later converted into sixth in the race after James Jakes and Christian Vietoris stalled on the grid. But he struggled in the reverse-grid race, finishing just fifteenth.Ricciardo moved to the British Formula 3 Championship for the 2009 season driving for Carlin Motorsport. Ricciardo continued his partnership with Carlin by heading to the Macau Grand Prix with the team.
Formula Renault 3.5 Series
On 30 October 2009, Ricciardo was signed by Tech 1 to compete in the 2010 season. He had competed with the team at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve in Portugal in 2009 and was the teammate to Brendon Hartley, another driver who drove for Tech 1 over the season.Following a minor incident during a mountain bike exercise, Ricciardo was forced to miss the second test of the 2010 season but went on to take pole position for both races at the season-opening round of the 2010 season in Alcañiz, Spain. He finished third and second in the races respectively, to leave himself at the head of the championship standings. Two weeks later, at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit, Ricciardo was relegated to last on the grid after being deemed to have hindered the laps of other drivers. In the next two races, he finished 13th and fifth respectively – coming 2nd in the latter, until many of the front-runners were given penalties for infringing the parc ferme rules before the race. One week later, in Monte Carlo, Ricciardo secured his third pole position of the season, finishing three-tenths of a second ahead of championship rival Stefano Coletti. He secured his first win at the following race, one place ahead of Coletti. Ricciardo went on to secure two more wins at the Hungaroring and at the Hockenheimring in commanding fashion. Following Ricciardo's sixth pole from 12 races, Tech 1 team boss, Simon Abadie, praised his driver's efforts greatly, saying, "I am happy, and happy for Daniel because six poles in 12 races is good going," and later stated his team's ambitions for success, by telling Autosport correspondent Peter Mills, "I really hopes Daniel wins the championship."
At the first race at the Silverstone circuit, Ricciardo was involved in a spectacular incident with pole-sitter Jon Lancaster, in which Ricciardo was sent into a barrel roll, eventually landing on his wheels. The crash saw the end of his race, with teammate Jean-Éric Vergne becoming the eventual winner, following disqualifications. Securing pole for the second race of the weekend, Ricciardo spent much of the race leading the pack by upwards of three seconds. However, braking issues in the second half of the event meant that, on the final lap, championship-rival Esteban Guerrieri was able to pass the Tech 1 racer.
Going into the final round of the season, Ricciardo sat just three points behind championship leader Mikhail Aleshin and 13 ahead of third-place man Esteban Guerrieri. Managing his 8th pole of the season, Ricciardo managed a lights-to-flag victory, setting the fastest lap and placing himself equal first with one race remaining. After securing second place on the grid for the second race of the weekend, Ricciardo managed to hold position until the pit stops, where he was successfully 'jumped' by two of his rivals, including teammate Vergne. With only two laps left in the race and struggling for pace, Ricciardo was overtaken by championship rival Aleshin. Finishing in that order, Ricciardo failed to secure the title in his debut year, losing out to Mikhail Aleshin by only two points.
In 2011, Ricciardo raced for ISR Racing prior to his HRT call-up.
Formula One career
Red Bull test driver (2009–2011)
Ricciardo made his track debut at the wheel of a Formula One car when he tested for Red Bull Racing at the young drivers test at Circuito de Jerez over three days, starting on 1 December 2009. On the final day of testing, he clocked the fastest time of the test by over a second. This placed him as the only driver to go into the 1:17 bracket. Red Bull Racing's team manager Christian Horner suggested that Ricciardo may replace his 2010 World Series teammate Hartley as the team's test and reserve driver. Ricciardo and Hartley went on to share test and reserve duties for both Red Bull and sister team Scuderia Toro Rosso until the latter was removed from the Red Bull Junior team.On 11 November 2010, Ricciardo was confirmed as the single driver to represent Red Bull Racing at the end-of-season young driver's test at the Yas Marina Circuit, on 16–17 November. Ricciardo continued to show his one-lap prowess and dominated the event, with his fastest lap being 1.3 seconds faster than World Champion Sebastian Vettel's qualifying lap the Saturday before. Days later, Ricciardo was confirmed as Toro Rosso's test and reserve driver for the season and would take part in the first free practice session of each race weekend. Franz Tost, Toro Rosso team principal stated that "having a hungry youngster on the books will keep our current driver pairing nice and sharp", referring to then Toro Rosso drivers Jaime Alguersuari and Sébastien Buemi.
HRT (2011)
On 30 June 2011, Ricciardo was loaned out by Red Bull to Hispania Racing, replacing Narain Karthikeyan for the remaining eleven races of the 2011 season and partnering former Red Bull and Toro Rosso driver Vitantonio Liuzzi. On the deal, HRT owner José Ramón Carabante commented that he was "proud that the Formula One world champion team has trusted us in their effort of developing their drivers". Ricciardo made his Grand Prix debut at the, where he qualified and finished last. Despite this, Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko described Ricciardo as "full of potential" and suggested that he would likely one day replace Mark Webber at Red Bull Racing.Over his eleven races with HRT, Ricciardo recorded a best qualifying position of 21st at the, and best race finishes of 18th place at the Hungarian and Indian Grands Prix, leaving him 27th in the World Drivers' Championship. Writing in 2017, Sky Sports praised Ricciardo's efforts in 2011, judging him to have " the fight" to teammate Liuzzi.