Daniel Ricciardo

Interesting facts

Growing up in Perth, Western Australia, Ricciardo started karting at nine and watched his father race at Barbagallo Raceway; winning the 2005 Australian karting championship earned him a pass to the Australian Grand Prix, where he met driver Jarno Trulli in person. Rising through the Red Bull junior program with junior formula titles, he made his F1 debut with HRT in 2011 before progressing through Toro Rosso to the senior Red Bull team alongside Sebastian Vettel in 2014. In that first Red Bull season, despite being disqualified from the Australian Grand Prix, he won in Canada, Hungary and Belgium and finished third in the championship. He took pole in Monaco in 2016 and ended a two-year win drought with victory in Malaysia, becoming one of the grid's most popular drivers through his trademark 'shoey' celebration - pouring champagne into his racing boot and drinking from it - which helped cement his 'Honey Badger' nickname. His rivalry with teammate Verstappen grew increasingly tense, culminating in a collision at the 2018 Azerbaijan Grand Prix that led Red Bull to make both drivers apologize to each other in person at the factory. Seeking a fresh challenge, he left for Renault at the end of 2018 and later moved to McLaren, where he scored his final F1 victory at the 2021 Italian Grand Prix, passing Verstappen at the first corner and holding off teammate Lando Norris. After a run of inconsistent form, he returned to the Red Bull fold as a reserve driver in 2023 and raced on for AlphaTauri/RB before retiring following the 2024 Singapore Grand Prix. Daniel Ricciardo raced in Formula 1 from 2011 to 2024, across 14 seasons as an Australian driver. He scored a total of 1329 championship points over his career. His best season was 2014, when he finished 3rd in the championship with 238 points.