Daniel Ricciardo - Meet The Grid

Introduction

Known as one of the most cheerful people in the paddock, Australian born Daniel Ricciardo can almost always be found with a smile on his face. The self-titled “Honey Badger” is razor-sharp, never afraid to brake late and push the car to the limits if it means pulling off a pass.

Having won 7 Grand Prix’, Daniel is giving it his all in that McLaren to end up on that podium once again. But our favourite Australian also had to start somewhere, and he did so at the age of nine.

Growing Up Down Under...

Daniel Joseph Ricciardo was born on 1 July 1989 in Perth, Western Australia. With his sister Michelle, his mother Grace and his Italian born father Giuseppe (or “Joe”), Daniel grew up in Duncraig, one of the wealthiest suburbs in Perth.

At the age of seven, little Daniel fell in love with karting. He described the speed as a feeling of freedom and being in total control. At the age of nine, he joined the Tiger Kart Club in Perth, and started participating in several karting events. His parents really backed his career, both emotionally and financially, and the young Honey Badger started his way to the top.

In 2005, Ricciardo entered the Western Australian Formula Ford championship, finishing eighth by season’s end. Towards the end of the season, Daniel participated in the national Formula Ford series, but his car was ageing and not competitive enough. He finished 16th, 17th and retired during the weekend’s three races. The following year he won a scholarship into the Formula BMW Asian championship with Eurasia Motorsport. In his first season, Daniel took two victories and also got a pole position. He finished third in the championship. In August that same year, he was given the possibility to race at the eighth meeting of the Formula BMW UK championship. He had to retire during the first race, but recovered and finished eighth in the second, scoring three championship points in his only entry in the British championship. At the end of the year, Daniel entered the Formula BMW World Final and finished fifth.

Moving Across the Globe...

At the age of 17, he moved to Europe to fully dedicate his time to motorsports. He participated in Formula Renault with RP Motorsport, focussing on Italian championships mostly. In the 2007 championship, he finished seventh. The following year he stayed in Formula Renault, entering European and Western European championships. This season was the first time the young Australian took his first European Title in the Western European Cup, and he finished second in the Eurocup, just behind the Finn Valtteri Bottas.

Half way through the 2008-season, Ricciardo made his debut in Formula 3 at the Nürburgring. Despite only a short amount of time to get familiar with the car, and no previous experience in these series, he qualified in eighth for the first race - started in sixth after two fellow drivers stalled on the grid. He unfortunately struggled in the reverse-grid race, finishing only fifteenth.

For the 2009-season, the Australian driver joined Carlin Motorsport in the British Formula 3 championship. He also made his debut in the Formula Renault 3.5 series with the Tech 1 Racing team. He retired from the first race, before finishing fifteenth in the second.

When he returned to Formula 3, he extended his championship lead to 45 points before returning to the Portuguese circuit. A win and a third place, gave him an unassailable 64-point lead. This meant that Daniel Ricciardo became the first Australian driver since David Brabham in 1989 to win the British Formula 3 title.

In that same year, Ricciardo made his track debut in a Formula 1 car at the Circuito de Jerez. Here he tested for Red Bull Racing at the young drivers tests. On the final day of testing, the Australian surprisingly clocked the fastest time of the test by over a whole second. He completed 77 laps on the Spanish circuit and set the pace in a time of 1m17.418s. But despite the fast pace, it was not all plain sailing. His session ended early when a large plume of smoke appeared from the back of his car and he was forced to stop the car.

In 2010, Daniel moved to the Formula Renault 3.5 series, where he already had competed in once, during the 2009-season. He missed the second test of the season due to an incident during a mountain bike exercise, but took pole position for both races in the opening round of the season, which took place in Alcañiz, Spain. He finished the races in third and second places, leading the championship as they went into round two of that season.

A couple of races later, in Monaco, Ricciardo managed to get his second pole position, and one race later he secured his first win in the Formula Renault 3.5 series. Two more wins followed at the Hungaroring and Hockenheim.

During the first race at Silverstone, Ricciardo clashed with pole-sitter Jon Lancaster, sending Ricciardo into a barrel roll, eventually landing on his wheels. For the second race at Silverstone, Ricciardo got pole position and he led the pack for most of the race. The Australian however had braking issues during the second half of the race, and saw the car of championship-rival Esteban Guerrieri pass on the final lap.

In the final lap of the 2010-season, Daniel was only three points behind championship leader Mikhail Aleshin, and 13 points ahead of Esteban Guerrieri. The Australian secured his 8th pole position, led the whole race and crossed the finish line first, and set the fastest lap. With only one race to go, he now had the same amount of points as Aleshin, and was very close to winning the championship in his debut year.

He started the last race from second place on the grid and managed to stay ahead of his rival for most of the race. Unfortunately, with only two laps to go, Ricciardo struggled with pace and was overtaken by Aleshin. They finished in that order and the Australian lost the championship title by only two points.

Joining Formula One...

After Ricciardo’s testing for Red Bull Racing in 2009, Christian Horner had already suggested that the Australian might replace Brendon Hartley as the team’s test and reserve driver. It turned out that both drivers had to share the test- and reserve duties for Red Bull and its sister team Scuderia Toro Rosso.

A Formula One Driver...

On 11 November, Daniel Ricciardo was confirmed as the single driver to represent Red Bull Racing at the end-of-season young drivers test in Abu Dhabi, on which Ricciardo commented "I can't wait to get another crack at driving Red Bull Racing's amazing Formula One car." During this end-of-season testing, Ricciardo showed his dominance and clocked a lap that was 1.3 seconds faster than the qualifying lap that 2010 World Champion Sebastian Vettel drove the Saturday before.

A few days after the testing, Ricciardo was confirmed as test and reserve driver for Toro Rosso during the 2011-season. 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.

Daniel participated in several Free Practice sessions for Toro Rosso, and was contracted in June 2011 to Hispania Racing by Red Bull Racing. In this team, he replaced Narain Karthikeyan for all of the remaining races of the season, except the Indian Grand Prix - allowing Karthikeyan to race at his home Grand Prix. Daniel made his debut during a Grand Prix at the 2011 British Grand Prix at Silverstone. He qualified 24th with Liuzzi, his teammate, in 23rd, and they finished the race in 19th and 18th respectively.

A few days before the Indian Grand Prix, it was announced that Liuzzi made way for Karthikeyan, allowing Ricciardo to race alongside Karthikeyan in India, and extend his learning curve that Red Bull paid the Spanish team to do.

Later that year, in December 2011, it was announced that the driver from Perth would race for Toro Rosso in the Formula 1 2012-season. He scored his first two championship points during his home race at the Australian Grand Prix, by finishing ninth. In his first season with Toro Rosso, he mainly had to distinguish himself in qualifying, beating his teammate Jean-Eric Vergne. He did that with great regularity. Of the 22 race qualifiers, 16 were in favor of Ricciardo. In doing so, he assured himself of a future in the sport without having had to book a real victory. Although he did score regularly in his first full season. Others noticed that too. Toro Rosso however, kept him on board for another season. During the 2013-season, Ricciardo out-scored his teammate Vergne by seven points and out-qualified him in over ¾ of the season. His great effort and impressive qualifying results helped Daniel to get promoted to the senior team, Red Bull Racing, replacing fellow Australian Mark Webber.

From that moment came the great successes.

In the first race of the season, his first race with Red Bull Racing, Ricciardo qualified in second place, behind Lewis Hamilton. He finished the race in that same position. Unfortunately he later was disqualified, as his car was ruled to have exceeded the mandated hourly flow rate limit. If he would not have been disqualified, he would have been the first Australian on the podium at the Australian Grand Prix since the race became part of the championship. The Red Bull team filed an appeal against the disqualification, but it was rejected and the FIA decision was upheld.

A Grand Prix Winner...

He scored his first points for Red Bull at the Bahrain Grand Prix, where he finished fourth, after starting from 13th position and climbing his way up through the field. Ricciardo won the Canadian Grand Prix, becoming the fourth Australian driver to win a Formula 1 Grand Prix - this victory also made an end to the winning streak of Mercedes so far that season. In the first half of the 2014-season he beated his teammate Sebastian Vettel, to the surprise of many. Fernando Alonso described the Australian as “unbelievable” and “very, very smart and very respectful,” after the two had a clean and tight battle at the German Grand Prix.

Later that season Ricciardo won the Hungarian Grand Prix by overtaking Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso in the final four laps. He also won the Belgian Grand Prix, signing the only three non-Mercedes wins that season to his name. In his first season for Red Bull Racing, Ricciardo confirmed third place in the drivers' championship at the Brazilian Grand Prix, even though he did not finish the race. In the final race of the season, the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, despite starting from the pit lane due to a front wing infringement, Ricciardo finished in fourth place and secured the first fastest lap of his Formula One career.

In October 2014 it was announced that Ricciardo would stay with Red Bull for the coming year. He would drive alongside Danill Kvyat, as Sebastian Vettel left the team for a seat at Ferrari.

In the 2015 season, the Red Bull cars lacked pace and were held back by the Renault power unit. The RB11, that year’s car, only showed pace on slow and twisty high downforce tracks, or in rain. During this season Daniel Ricciardo scored his first top 5 finish in Monaco, finishing in fifth and setting the fastest lap. During the Hungarian Grand Prix, Ricciardo battled Rosberg for second place, both hunting down Sebastian Vettel in his Ferrari. Rosberg and Ricciardo clashed during this hunt, and Ricciardo had to settle for third place. He got a second podium during the Singapore Grand Prix, finishing in second place, but ended the season only in eighth place in the championship.

In the 2016-season, the Red Bull seemed to be much more competitive. Ricciardo started the season off strongly, finishing fourth in Australia and Bahrain. He qualified second in China, leading the race for a while before suffering a tyre blowout and finishing fourth again.

At the Spanish Grand Prix, Daniel’s teammate Kvyat was replaced by the young Dutch driver Max Verstappen. During the race, the two Mercedeses crashed on the first lap, and Daniel, who qualified third, led the race. After a remarkable strategy call by Ferrari resulting in a very short third stint for Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull decided to answer this by pitting Ricciardo again and cover Vettel, also going for the presumed faster three-stop strategy. This dropped him behind Vettel, new teammate Max Verstappen and Kimi Räikkönen on track, and after a few failed attempts at passing Vettel, a tyre blowout late on in the race meant that Ricciardo finished fourth again, behind eventual winner Verstappen, and the Ferraris of Räikkönen and Vettel.

At the 2016 Monaco Grand Prix, Ricciardo scored his first pole position of the season. He led the race for a long time, and everything looked like he was taking home the win. However, after a very long pitstop in which his team wasn’t prepared and took nearly 40 seconds to ready a set of tyres, he lost the race lead to Lewis Hamilton and finished the race in second. Ricciardo was notably upset after the race result, saying: "Two weekends in a row I've been screwed now. It sucks. It hurts."

The Australian returned to the podium in Hungary (third place) and in Germany (second place). At Hockenheim we saw the famous “shoey” for the first time on an F1-podium: Ricciardo took off his shoe, filled it with champagne and drank from his racing boot.

At the Malaysian Grand Prix, he took the lead after a collision between Vettel and Rosberg, and a retiring Hamilton due to engine failures. He crossed the finish line first, before his teammate Verstappen, taking his first victory of the season. Of course, the shoey was repeated on the podium and he shared it with Verstappen, Rosberg and his team boss Christian Horner.

Daniel eventually ended third in the Driver’s Championship, following another podium finish in Mexico.

In 2017, the Australian was again somewhat held back by the car. He won his fifth Grand Prix in Azerbaijan, finished on the podium five times in a row, but had to settle for fifth place in the overall standings at the end of the season.

Redemption...

Ricciardo started the 2018-season off with some bad luck. In Bahrain he did not finish the race after an electrical failure during the second lap. He won the Chinese Grand Prix after starting sixth on the grid. But in Azerbaijan, luck left his side. He was fighting with Verstappen for fourth place, when his front wing made heavy contact with Verstappen’s rear, causing both drivers to retire. In Spain he spun under the Virtual Safety Car, but managed to finish fifth and set a track record. Coming into the Monaco Grand Prix, the Red Bulls were seen as favourites, and after losing the win in 2016, Daniel wanted redemption. He went all in and topped all three practice sessions, breaking the lap record during each session. Also during qualifying he topped every session and again broke the lap record, securing his second pole position in Monaco. At the start of the race, he managed to stay ahead of Vettel and Hamilton. After 16 laps, he came in for his first and only pit stop, returning to the track as leader, as his direct opponents had already stopped earlier. The Red Bull driver then had a lead of about three seconds over Vettel, with which he seemed to be in control. However, the race was 27 laps old when Ricciardo came on the radio to report that he was losing power, after which Vettel closed the gap between him and the RB14 in no time. Fortunately for the driver from Perth, the problem didn’t last and he was able to continue. Having enough pace, he managed to keep Vettel behind, and saw the checkered flag first. The victory, redemption for what happened in the 2016-season, was later celebrated with the famous dive in the Red Bull pool.

The rest of the season wasn’t so successful, as he had to retire in 8 of the 15 remaining races. Ricciardo finished the season in sixth, his teammate Max Verstappen finished 4th.

A New Challenge...

During the 2018 season, Daniel had decided that it was time for a new challenge, after all those years with Red Bull. That new challenge came in the form of the Renault team. In August 2018 it was announced that Ricciardo had signed a two-year contract with the French team for the 2019 and 2020 season. A striking choice, given the Renault engine regularly played tricks on him at Red Bull. Still, the Australian believed the move was the right move for him. Renault and Ricciardo both wanted nothing more than to return to the top, but unfortunately the results were not forthcoming in 2019. Ricciardo had to leave a number of races early due to technical problems, much to the frustration of the Australian. The real blow, however, came after the Japanese Grand Prix, when both Renault drivers were disqualified for allegedly using driver's aid. This was a big downer for Ricciardo, who had crossed the finish line in sixth place. All in all, these were a lot of disappointing results for a driver used to winning races. Ricciardo finished the season in ninth place with 54 points; his worst result in years.

Even before the 2020 Formula 1 season had started, the Australian driver announced that he was leaving the Renault team. He had been approached by McLaren and decided to give them a chance. Given the disappointing results from a year earlier, no one could really blame him for that decision. The 2020-season itself then went a lot better than the 2019-season. He started the season with a retirement during the Austrian Grand Prix, but in the next race, the Styrian Grand Prix, he was running in sixth with only two laps to go. He unfortunately finished in eighth, after running wide when overtaking Stroll. At the British Grand Prix, he was running in sixth, but punctures to Sainz’ and Bottas’ tyres promoted the Honey Badger to fourth. He was very close to overtaking Leclerc and getting his first podium in two years, but missed it by only 1.2 seconds. Starting at the Belgian Grand Prix, Ricciardo went on an 11 race point-scoring streak until the end of the season. At Spa-Francorchamps he qualified and finished in 4th, and also set the fastest lap of the race.

At the Tuscan Grand Prix he qualified eighths and was running most of the race in third, almost grabbing a podium. Unfortunately for the Australian, Alex Albon overtook the Renault, and Ricciardo had to settle for fourth.

At the Eifel Grand Prix, he qualified sixth and climbed his way up to third, scoring Renault’s first podium since 2011, and Ricciardo’s first since Monaco 2018. At the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix he started fifth on the grid, but finished third and got his second podium with Renault.

In his final race for Renault at the 2020 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, he only managed 12th on the grid, however a good first stint allowed him to exit the pits in seventh place. He also took the fastest lap of the race on the final lap. He finished in fifth place in the championship standings.

Struggles With McLaren...

“I don’t think you win seven grands prix and have 30-plus podiums by accident.” - Zak Brown

As announced before the start of the 2020 season, Daniel Ricciardo joined Lando Norris at McLaren. His results in 2020 have sent a clear signal that, despite his 32 years, Ricciardo is still in top form and that he should absolutely not be underestimated by the competition, and neither should his new team. McLaren has made a lot of progress in the past two seasons and the expectation is that the team with the Mercedes engine will only become stronger.

Signing the Australian driver seemed to be a good move for the team from Woking, but against all odds, the honey badger doesn't seem to be able to match the pace of his predecessor Carlos Sainz, and his current teammate Lando Norris. In the first 10 races, Ricciardo collected only 50 points, where Norris already has 113 championship points assigned to his name. Ricciardo said he has been struggling to come to grips with the McLaren, because the car is so different from any other F1 car he has driven before.

“I’ve been trying to use different kinds of analogies to explain to – without being rude – the outside world, to try and get the words across. I’ve been driving F1 for a few years and all the cars… they’re not the same,” he said to Autosport UK. He compared coming to terms with the papaya coloured car with learning to kick a football using his left foot, instead of his right. “My instinct is obviously to kick a ball with my right foot, that’s easy. But now to really perfect this car, I’m trying to now learn how to kick with my left. That’s maybe a good analogy.”

McLaren F1 CEO Zak Brown seems to have the patience to allow Ricciardo to find his groove with the car.

“Clearly he’s a huge talent,” he told Sky Sports TV “I don’t think you win seven grands prix and have 30-plus podiums by accident.”

“Clearly something’s not clicking yet (but) I think it’s just a matter of time. I think in a race, in a moment, it’ll just all come together.”

At the latest British Grand Prix, it seemed like it all came together and that Daniel finally got the hang of kicking with his left. He qualified seventh, finished sprint qualifying in sixth and crossed the finish line in the race in fifth - his best score with McLaren so far.

The cheerful Australian stays cool and optimistic.

“It requires a bit more work and a bit more energy, but I feel over time – and I’m obviously committed to McLaren for the next few years – it should pay off. Whether it’s six months time, 12 months time, I should be a more complete driver,” he said in an interview.

All in all, things look promising for Ricciardo. Let’s hope that his top 5 finish at Silverstone was the first of many with McLaren, and that we will see many more shoey’s from the Honey Badger.