Daniel Ricciardo

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.[22] 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 16th, 17th and retired during the weekend's three races.[23] 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 at the eighth meeting of the Formula BMW UK 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, 14 seconds off winner Christian Vietoris.

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 14 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.

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. But he struggled in the reverse-grid race, finishing just fifteenth.[24]

Ricciardo moved to the British Formula 3 Championship for the 2009 season driving for Carlin Motorsport.[25] 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.[26] 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.

Ricciardo in the 2011 Formula Renault 3.5 Series at Circuit Paul Ricard

On 30 October 2009, Ricciardo was signed by Tech 1 to compete in the 2010 season.[27] 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."[28]

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.[29]

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,[30] Ricciardo managed a lights-to-flag victory, setting the fastest lap and placing himself equal first with one race remaining.[31] 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.[32]

In 2011 Ricciardo raced for ISR Racing prior to his HRT call-up.[33]

Ricciardo as Scuderia Toro Rosso's third driver at the 2011 Malaysian Grand Prix

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.[34] 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.[35] 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.[36] As it turned out, Ricciardo and Hartley were to share test and reserve duties for both Red Bull, and sister team Scuderia Toro Rosso[37] until the latter was removed from the Red Bull Junior team.[38]

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."[39] 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.[40]

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.[41][42] 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.[43] 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[44] on the timesheets after opening practice, just one-tenth slower than his experienced Toro Rosso teammate 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.

Ricciardo racing for HRT at the 2011 Italian Grand Prix

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.[45] 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.

Ricciardo driving for Toro Rosso at the 2012 Malaysian Grand Prix

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.[46]

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.

Ricciardo at the 2013 Malaysian Grand Prix

On 31 October 2012, Toro Rosso announced the re-signing of Ricciardo for the 2013 season.[47]

Ricciardo out-scored his teammate 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.

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.[48][49]

Ricciardo at the 2014 Singapore Grand Prix

In the first race of the season, the Australian Grand Prix, Ricciardo qualified in second place behind Lewis Hamilton[50] 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.[51] 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.[52] Infiniti Red Bull Racing filed an appeal against the disqualification[53][54] which was rejected by the International Court of Appeal, the FIA decision being upheld.[55]

Ricciardo failed to finish in the Malaysian Grand Prix,[56] 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.[57] By winning at the Canadian Grand Prix,[4] 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".[58]

Ricciardo won the Hungarian Grand Prix on 27 July, ahead of Alonso and Lewis Hamilton.[5] 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 two. 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 teammate Vettel survived a spin coming onto the main straight late in the race to finish seventh.[59] 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,[6] also making him the only non-Mercedes driver to have won a Grand Prix in 2014.

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.[60]

Ricciardo at the 2015 Malaysian Grand Prix

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 teammate. 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 eighth place in the championship, three points behind teammate Daniil Kvyat. He out-qualified Kvyat 14–5.

Ricciardo after winning the 2016 Malaysian Grand Prix

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 third 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 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 he finished fourth 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 third, and in Germany, where he finished second. 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 second again), this time persuading podium interviewer Mark Webber to also drink from the shoe.

Ricciardo qualified and finished second 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 fourth at the Malaysian Grand Prix but moved up to second into turn one, 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 third 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 the previous year's result, he improved on every other race result from 2015.

Ricciardo at the 2017 Malaysian Grand Prix

Ricciardo qualified 10th in Australia after spinning into the tyre barrier in Q3.[61] He incurred a five-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.[62] He won his fifth Grand Prix at the first Azerbaijan Grand Prix, after qualifying 10th. He finished on the podium five times in a row between Spain and Austria, and then three times in a row between Singapore and Japan. Despite having maintained fourth in the drivers' championship for much of the season, retirements in three of the last four races (including the final race at Abu Dhabi) saw Ricciardo drop down to 5th in the championship, five points behind Kimi Räikkönen.

Ricciardo at the 2018 Austrian Grand Prix

Ricciardo started the season with a fourth-place in Australia, from eighth on the grid after a three-place penalty for speeding under red flag conditions. In Bahrain, he recorded a non-finish after an electrical failure on the second lap. His result in the 2018 Chinese Grand Prix was much better, taking a commanding victory by almost nine seconds, after starting sixth on the grid. At the 2018 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, Ricciardo was fighting for fourth with teammate Max Verstappen in the latter half of the race. His front wing made heavy contact with his teammate's rear, and the incident caused both drivers to retire. At the 2018 Spanish Grand Prix, Ricciardo finished fifth and set the track record, despite spinning under the virtual safety car. Coming into the 2018 Monaco Grand Prix, Ricciardo and Verstappen were considered favourites to win the race due to their cars superior chassis and down-force. Ricciardo topped all three practice sessions before qualifying, breaking the lap record with each session. Ricciardo managed to secure the second pole of his career at Monaco, topping every qualifying session as well and setting a new lap record again. In the race, Ricciardo managed to hold off the Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel to take his first Monaco Grand Prix victory and his first Grand Prix win from pole position, despite having to manage a loss of power due to a MGU-K power output issue throughout the race. Later in the season, he tied for the most retirements in the 2018 season, with 8 retirements in total. He managed four fastest laps for the season, in Australia, China, Spain and Hungary and finished the season sixth in the World Drivers' Championship with 170 points.

Ricciardo at the 2019 Hungarian Grand Prix

On 3 August 2018, it was announced that Ricciardo had signed a two-year contract to drive for Renault.[63] On 20 August, it was announced that Pierre Gasly from Toro Rosso would be his replacement at Red Bull.

Ricciardo's teammate for the 2019 season was Nico Hülkenberg. Ricciardo had a poor start to the season with retirements in the first two races, from front wing damage in Australia and power failure in Bahrain. A 7th-place finish in China followed. In Azerbaijan, Ricciardo reversed into Daniil Kvyat when both cars stopped after an overtake attempt by Ricciardo, causing race-ending damage for both drivers and Ricciardo's third retirement in four races. Six consecutive race finishes followed, including a strong 4th place in qualifying and 6th-place finish in Canada. Ricciardo then suffered an exhaust failure at the German Grand Prix.

At the Italian Grand Prix, Ricciardo finished in 4th place, his best result of the year. Teammate Hülkenberg finished in 5th, contributing to Renaults best finish since the team returned to the sport in 2016. Ricciardo was involved in a first-lap collision in Russia, leading to his eventual retirement. He was initially classified 6th in Japan, before both Renault cars were disqualified ten days later for using illegal driver aids.[64] Three consecutive points finishes followed, with strong 6th-place finishes in the United States and Brazil.

Ricciardo ended a relatively disappointing season for Renault in 9th place in the championship, with 54 points, ahead of teammate Hülkenberg.

Ricciardo driving at Barcelona in 2020 during pre-season testing

On 29 August 2019, it was announced that Hülkenberg would be replaced at Renault for the 2020 season, and that Ricciardo would partner former Force India driver and Mercedes reserve Esteban Ocon.

At the 2020 Eifel Grand Prix, Ricciardo qualified 6th before going on to score the team's first podium since the 2011 Malaysian Grand Prix. This was Ricciardo's first podium since joining Renault, and his best result since the 2018 Monaco Grand Prix. He reached the podium a second time for Renault at the 2020 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix. He finished in 5th place in the championship standings, 6 points behind Sergio Pérez in 4th place.

After two years at Renault, Ricciardo is due to join McLaren for the 2021 Formula One World Championship as a replacement for Carlos Sainz Jr. who signed a multi-year deal with Ferrari. His team mate for 2021 will be Lando Norris who is set to be retained by the team.[65] Ricciardo subsequently admitted to the media that before signing for McLaren he had held talks with Ferrari about taking over Sebastian Vettel's seat but Ferrari had instead signed Sainz.[66]

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

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

^† Did not finish, but was classified as he had completed more than 90% of the race distance.