Daniel Ricciardo

Personal life

His father Joe Ricciardo was born in Ficarra, Sicily, but moved to Australia when he was seven. His mother was born in Australia, to Italian parents from Calabria. Daniel Ricciardo has a sister, Michelle Ricciardo.

Joe Ricciardo was a significant figure in the mining business in Western Australia. He founded GR Engineering and JR Engineering. He is a keen collector of cars; including a 1973 Ferrari Dino 246GT, 1963 Porsche 911, and Ferrari F40. He has taken part in several racing series in Australia.

Growing up in Duncraig in Perth's northern suburbs, his earliest memories of motorsport are of being held by his mother to watch his father race at the nearby Barbagallo Raceway in Wanneroo.

Ricciardo pronounces his name 'Ricardo' instead of the Italian pronunciation 'Rit-char-do', saying that is how his family pronounces it.

He is also referred to as "The Honey Badger". When asked why, he said "It's supposed to be the most fearless animal in the animal kingdom. When you look at it, he seems quite cute and 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". He wears an image of a honey badger on the back of his helmet.

Ricciardo supports the West Coast Eagles in the Australian Football League, and was the club's number-one ticket holder in 2015 and 2016.

Formula Ford and Formula BMW

Born in Perth, Western Australia, Ricciardo started karting at the age of nine, as a member of the Tiger Kart Club (TKC) and entered numerous karting events. In 2005, he entered the Western Australian Formula Ford championship driving a 15-year-old Van Diemen, finishing eighth by season's end. Towards the end of the season Ricciardo took a leased 13-year-old Van Diemen across to Sandown Raceway in Melbourne to compete at the national Formula Ford series but his ageing car was uncompetitive as he finished sixteenth, seventeenth and retired during the weekend's three races. The following year, however, he won a scholarship into the Formula BMW Asian championship with Eurasia Motorsport. During his début season, Ricciardo took two victories (both at Bira) and also achieved a pole position at Zhuhai. He finished third in the Drivers' Championship with 231 points, 59 points behind the champion Earl Bamber.

In August that year, he was given an outing with Motaworld Racing to race one of their Formula BMW cars at the eighth meeting of the British championship. Despite retiring from the first race, Ricciardo recovered to finish eighth in the second race and took three championship points in his only entry in the British championship. At the end of the year, he entered the Formula BMW World Final with Fortec Motorsport where he finished in fifth position, fourteen seconds off winner Christian Vietoris.

Formula Renault

2007 saw Ricciardo switch categories to Formula Renault with RP Motorsport, entering the European and Italian championships of the category, although mainly focused on the latter series as he entered fourteen races to the four entries he took in the European championship. He finished the year seventh in the Italian series with 196 points and scoring a single podium at Valencia but failed to score a point in his handful of starts in the European races.

Ricciardo stayed in Formula Renault for a second year in 2008, entering the European and Western European championships. By the end of the year, the young driver took his first European title in the Western European Cup and finished second in the Eurocup to Finn Valtteri Bottas.

Formula Three

During the mid-part of the 2008 season, Ricciardo made his Formula Three début at the Nürburgring, entering 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.

Ricciardo moved to the British Formula 3 Championship for the 2009 season driving for Carlin Motorsport. He also made his debut in the 3.5-litre World Series by Renault championship, racing alongside Charles Pic at Tech 1 Racing for the rounds at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve in Portugal. He retired from the first race, before finishing fifteenth in the second. When he returned to Formula Three, he extended his championship lead to 45 points before returning to the Portuguese circuit. A win and a third in the British-registered cars, gave him an unassailable 64-point lead over Renger van der Zande with just 42 available. This meant that Ricciardo became the first Australian driver since David Brabham in 1989 to win the British Formula 3 title. Just like Brabham, Ricciardo won the title in a car powered by a Volkswagen engine. Ricciardo finished the season on a high, taking both pole positions for the final round of the series, at Brands Hatch. He won the first race by fifteen seconds, and finished fourth (third in British-registered cars as Marcus Ericsson was running in the Invitational Class) in the season-ending race. His championship winning margin was 87 points as Walter Grubmüller overhauled his teammate van der Zande, who was absent from the weekend due to a conflicting Euroseries race in Barcelona.

Ricciardo continued his partnership with Carlin, by heading to the Macau Grand Prix with the team. Ricciardo quickly gathered pace at the circuit, being second fastest (and fastest rookie) behind Marcus Ericsson in first qualifying, before winding up in fifth place in second qualifying, setting the grid for the qualifying race. Following a sixth place in the qualifying race, Ricciardo was forced to retire on the first lap of the main race after hitting a wall at San Francisco. He continued with a puncture up the hill before hitting the wall at the Solitude Esses, and caused a circuit-blocking incident, which also took out seven of his rivals.

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 Hockenheim 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

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, from 1–3 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. As it turned out, Ricciardo and Hartley were 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 drivers test at the Yas Marina Circuit, on 16–17 November. At the announcement, he commented, "I can't wait to get another crack at driving Red Bull Racing's amazing Formula One car." Ricciardo continued to show his one-lap prowess and dominated the event, with his fastest lap being 1.3 seconds faster than 2010 World Champion Sebastian Vettel's qualifying lap the Saturday before.

Days after completing this session Ricciardo was confirmed as Toro Rosso's test and reserve driver for the 2011 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. Ricciardo would also make an appearance in pre-season testing for the 2011 Formula One season, driving for Scuderia Toro Rosso.

At the 2011 Australian Grand Prix Ricciardo was placed 16th on the timesheets after opening practice, just one-tenth slower than his experienced Toro Rosso team mate Sebastian Buemi. Ricciardo managed to later finish eighth in practice for the wet Turkish Grand Prix Friday practice one session, a place ahead of competitor Buemi.

HRT (2011)

On 30 June 2011, Ricciardo was contracted to Hispania Racing by Red Bull Racing, replacing Narain Karthikeyan for all the remaining races of the 2011 season except the Indian Grand Prix, to allow Karthikeyan to race at his home Grand Prix. Ricciardo made his Grand Prix debut at the 2011 British Grand Prix at Silverstone.

However, on 22 October 2011, a few days before the inaugural Indian Grand Prix, the race where Karthikeyan was due to gain back his seat for his home race, HRT F1 announced that Vitantonio Liuzzi made way for Karthikeyan, allowing Ricciardo to race in India and extend his learning curve that Red Bull Racing paid the struggling Spanish team to do, as well as allowing Karthikeyan to race in front of his home fans. In Abu Dhabi, Ricciardo retired with mechanical problems after starting 20th on the grid and in the final race at the Brazilian Grand Prix, Ricciardo finished 20th after starting 22nd on the grid.

Toro Rosso (2012–2013)

2012

On 14 December 2011, it was confirmed that Ricciardo would drive for the Scuderia Toro Rosso for the 2012 season, alongside Frenchman Jean-Éric Vergne.

At the 2012 Australian Grand Prix on 18 March 2012, Ricciardo managed to overtake his teammate Vergne late on the last lap to come home in ninth place, securing his first two World Championship points.

In wet conditions in Malaysia he finished 12th, after having been first to switch to slick tyres. In Bahrain he qualified sixth, but dropped back during the race and finished 15th. In Monaco he suffered his only retirement of the season, after having started from 15th position.

2013

On 31 October 2012, Toro Rosso announced the re-signing of Ricciardo for the 2013 season.

Ricciardo out-scored his team-mate Jean-Éric Vergne by seven points and out-qualified him in over 3/4 of the season. His impressive qualifying efforts of 30–7 against Vergne over their two years together help promote him to Toro Rosso senior team, Red Bull, replacing fellow countryman Mark Webber. Ricciardo finished 13th in the championship with 20 points.

Red Bull (2014–present)

Ricciardo replaced Mark Webber at Infiniti Red Bull Racing at the start of the 2014 Formula One season, partnering Sebastian Vettel, a four-time world champion.

2014

In the first race of the season, the Australian Grand Prix, Ricciardo qualified in second place behind Lewis Hamilton and completed the race in second place, despite pressure from rookie Kevin Magnussen in the final laps. Ricciardo was later disqualified, as his car was ruled to have exceeded the mandated hourly fuel flow rate limit. Had he not been disqualified, it would have marked the first time an Australian had made the podium at the Australian Grand Prix since the race became part of the World Championship. Infiniti Red Bull Racing filed an appeal against the disqualification which was rejected by the International Court of Appeal, the FIA decision being upheld.

Ricciardo failed to finish in the Malaysian Grand Prix, but managed to record his first points of the 2014 season at the Bahrain Grand Prix, where he finished fourth, after starting in 13th position. By winning at the Canadian Grand Prix, Ricciardo became the fourth Australian to win a Grand Prix in Formula One, joining Jack Brabham, Alan Jones and Mark Webber. His victory in Canada broke the chain of six Mercedes victories that marked the beginning of the 2014 season. Ricciardo impressed many by beating Vettel throughout the first half of the 2014 season, and after a clean and tight battle between Ricciardo and Fernando Alonso at the German Grand Prix, Alonso described Ricciardo as 'unbelievable' and "very, very smart, very respectful".

Ricciardo won the Hungarian Grand Prix on 27 July, ahead of Alonso and Lewis Hamilton. He was in third place behind Alonso and Hamilton with less than four laps remaining and overtook Hamilton's Mercedes with a pass on the outside of the Hungaroring's turn 2. He then easily caught and passed Alonso's Ferrari as he had very little grip left on his tyres – television footage of his left front tyre after the race showed it to be badly blistered. In the final two laps, Ricciardo pulled away to win the race by 5.225 seconds. His team mate Vettel survived a spin coming onto the main straight late in the race to finish seventh. Ricciardo became the second Australian to win the Hungarian Grand Prix, after Mark Webber's victory – also for Red Bull – in 2010. Ricciardo then went on to score his third victory of his career to go back to back in Belgium, become the first Australian to win there since Jack Brabham in 1960.

On 4 October 2014, it was announced that Ricciardo would partner Daniil Kvyat for the 2015 season, following the announcement of Vettel's departure from the team. In his first season for Red Bull Racing, Ricciardo confirmed third place in the drivers' championship at the Brazilian Grand Prix, despite it being his first retirement since the Malaysian Grand Prix. 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. For his 2014 performances, Ricciardo won the Laureus World Sports Award for Breakthrough of the Year in April 2015.

2015

On 8 February 2015, during the third episode of series 22 of the popular British motoring television programme, Top Gear, Ricciardo became the fastest Formula One driver to perform a lap of the Top Gear test track during the Star in a Reasonably Priced Car feature, beating the previous record-holder Lewis Hamilton with a time of 1:42.2.

In 2015 Red Bull slipped behind Ferrari and Williams in their efforts to take the title fight to Mercedes. The Red Bull cars were held back by the Renault power unit having been out-developed by Mercedes and Ferrari. The RB11 only showed pace in slow and twisty high downforce tracks or in rain, highlighting the car's strong chassis.

Ricciardo achieved his first top five finish in Monaco with fifth and the fastest lap of the race. While tussling for second in Hungary with Nico Rosberg, his race winning charge ground to a halt when the two clashed while hunting down Sebastian Vettel. Ricciardo managed to finish third behind his team-mate. It was his first podium since the 2014 United States Grand Prix. He recorded his second podium of the season in Singapore where he finished second and recorded his third fastest lap of the season.

Ricciardo finished the season with 92 points in 8th in the championship, three points behind his team-mate Daniil Kvyat as a result of a string of reliability issues across the season. He out-qualified Kvyat 14–5.

2016

In a much more competitive Red Bull, Ricciardo began the season well, finishing 4th in both Australia and Bahrain and qualifying 2nd and then leading early on in the Chinese Grand Prix before suffering a tyre blowout and finishing in 4th again.

Ricciardo qualified 3rd at the Spanish Grand Prix, and after the two Mercedes cars of Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg crashed out on the first lap, he led the early stages of the race. After a remarkable strategy call by Ferrari resulting in a very short 3rd stint for Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull decided to answer this by pitting Ricciardo again and cover Vettel, also going for the presumed faster 3 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 he finished 4th again, behind eventual winner Verstappen, and the Ferraris of Räikkönen and Vettel.

Ricciardo scored his first pole position at the Monaco Grand Prix, and led the early wet stages of the race. However, after a very long pitstop in which his team took nearly 40 seconds to ready a set of tyres he lost the race lead to Lewis Hamilton and finished the race in 2nd. Ricciardo was notably upset after the race result, saying: "Two weekends in a row I've been screwed now. It sucks. It hurts."

Ricciardo returned to the podium in Hungary, finishing in 3rd, and in Germany, where he finished 2nd. On the podium in Germany, Ricciardo performed a new celebration, where he drank champagne out of his shoe. He calls this celebration the "shoey". He repeated the celebration at the Belgian Grand Prix (where he came 2nd again), this time forcing podium interviewer Mark Webber to also drink from the shoe.

Ricciardo qualified and finished 2nd at the Singapore Grand Prix, after pushing eventual winner Rosberg hard near the end, a late strategy change pushing him to under half a second behind at the finish line.

Ricciardo qualified 4th at the Malaysian Grand Prix but moved up to 2nd into turn 1, after a collision between Sebastian Vettel and Nico Rosberg. He then took the lead late on in the race when leader Lewis Hamilton retired with an engine failure. After fighting with his Red Bull teammate Verstappen, Ricciardo took his first victory of the season. He repeated his "shoey" celebration on the podium, and was able to get team boss Christian Horner as well as podium sharers Verstappen and Rosberg to repeat the celebration. Ricciardo eventually sealed 3rd in the Drivers' Championship following a podium finish in Mexico. Other than Sergio Pérez, he is the only driver to have been classified in every race of the 2016 season. In fact, save for just two races in which Ricciardo equalled last year's result, he improved on every other race result from 2015. He remains contracted to Red Bull for the 2017 season.

2017

Ricciardo qualified 10th at the 2017 Australian Grand Prix after spinning into the tyre barrier in Q3. Ricciardo incurred a 5 place grid penalty due to an unscheduled gearbox change as a result from the crash. A gearbox sensor issue prevented him from taking the start and when he did get going, two laps down, a sudden fuel pressure problem ended his race after 25 laps.

Career summary

* Season still in progress.

Complete Formula 3 Euro Series results

(key)

† – As Ricciardo was a guest driver, he was ineligible for points.

Complete Formula Renault 3.5 Series results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete Formula One results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

* Season still in progress.
^† Driver did not finish the Grand Prix, but was classified as he completed over 90% of the race distance.