Daniel Joseph Ricciardo, born July 1st 1989, is an Australian Formula One driver currently competing for RB. He began karting at the age of nine and by 2005 was competing in the Western Australia Formula Ford championship where he finished eighth on the season, despite the fact that he was driving a car that was fifteen years old. After moving up the ranks and finishing sixth in the 2007 Italian Formula 2.0 series, Ricciardo was selected by the Red Bull Junior team. In 2008 he competed in Formula 3 and moved up to the Formula Renault 3.5 series in 2010, where he finished the year in second, just two points out of first place. In 2011, Ricciardo was named test driver for the Scuderia Toro Rosso (now RB) and was called up to finish the season with a race seat at HRT, replacing Narain Karthikeyan. Following that, Ricciardo was promoted to a full time seat at Toro Rosso in 2012, where he remained until 2014 when he was promoted to Red Bull Racing, replacing Mark Webber and partnering with four-time World Champion Sebastian Vettel.
In his first year at Red Bull, Ricciardo finished third in the championship to Vettel’s fifth. In 2017, Max Verstappen’s first full season at Red Bull, Ricciardo managed to outpace him, finishing fifth in the championship to Verstappen’s sixth. That, however, would be the last time Verstappen would finish a season behind his teammate. In 2018, Ricciardo had a strong start to the season, but after announcing that he was moving to the Renault team in 2019 he was hampered by a string of bad luck and mechanical failures, while Verstappen continued to improve, ultimately surpassing Ricciardo in the points. Following a decent two year stint at Renault, Ricciardo announced that he was moving on to McLaren in a futile effort to find a team he could win a championship with. McLaren proved to be a disaster for Ricciardo, as he failed to keep pace with his younger teammate, Lando Norris. Still, Ricciardo did manage to add one more Formula One race victory for a total of eight, along with thirty-two trips to the podium. But unfortunately, in 2022, however, Ricciardo finally had to admit that he could not come to grips with the car and was forced out of his contract a year early. It was a moment of darkness for the man from down under. The smile was gone and he had lost his love for racing. It looked as though he might be done with it for good. But, as fate would have it, Christian Horner at Red Bull had different ideas about Ricciardo’s future and picked him up to serve a limited role as a test and reserve driver. Ricciardo was back home, and after a few months on the simulator, he had his mojo back. The final step in his return to the grid was a Pirelli tire test at Silverstone in the RB19, which he aced.
Daniel Ricciardo was born in Perth, Australia to father Giuseppe “Joe” Ricciardo and mother, Grace. He has a sister named Michelle, who has two children of her own. Yes, it’s uncle Dan now. Ricciardo’s father, Joe, is of Italian descent and was born in Sicily, where he lived until the age of seven before his family relocated to Australia. Daniel’s mother was born in Australia but her parents were originally from Casignana in the Calabria region of Italy, near the tip of the boot. Daniel’s earliest memories of motor sports were of his father racing at Barbagallo Raceway in Wanneroo, Australia. Early on and inspired by his dad, Daniel decided he wanted a go-kart, which by his mother’s account seemed a lot safer than pursuing a career in motorbikes, which was a possibility at the time. While Daniel has made a name for himself on the track, his father admits that it took about $350k worth of family money to get him overseas to compete at the next level before finding sponsorship. Without that, the paddock in Formula One may never have had the pleasure of experiencing Daniel’s big, goofy grin and well-developed sense of humor.
In polite company he’s know as Danny Ric, Danny, or just Dan, but on the track he’s known as the Honey Badger, an animal that looks cute and cuddly but knows no fear and is willing take on any fight. Ricciardo wants to win. Unlike many drivers, Ricciardo has never been interested in just maintaining a seat on the grid and living to fight another day. He famously left Red Bull to find a more competitive team, not knowing that if he had stayed, Red Bull would return to its winning ways. Impatience, maybe, but at the time it seemed pretty clear that Helmut Marko and Red Bull were going to back Verstappen even though Ricciardo was outperforming him on track. In fact, Red Bull had signed Verstappen to a multi-year contract the year Ricciardo left. Later, Christian Horner stated that they were preparing a monster deal for Ricciardo, but the Honey Badger had already signed a massive deal with Renault. At the time, Renault, which had just re-entered the sport after winning back to back championships with Alonso in 2005 and 2006, looked like it might be the only team capable of taking the fight to the current championship team, Mercedes. It turned out to be a gamble on Ricciardo’s part that didn’t pay off. After two years with Renault, Ricciardo’s illustrious career was still in tact, but after leaving yet another team to chase the dream of becoming World Champion at McLaren, Ricciardo fell flat on his face. After two years, his confidence level was at zero, and he had to admit defeat. He just couldn’t come to grips with the quirky McLaren.
Now, with a new life at RB and the possibility of returning to Red Bull, current world champions, the Honey Badger is on a clear path to realizing his dream of becoming a world champion himself. But first, he still has to overcome Japanese driver Yuki Tsunoda, and replace Sergio Perez at Red Bull. No easy feat. And, if that weren’t enough, if he can make it to Red Bull, he will still be in a showdown with a formidable Dutchman and multiple World Champion, Max Verstappen. Still, Ricciardo is the only one of Verstappen’s teammates to have outperformed him over the course of a season. So, here’s to the Honey Badger, never one to shy away from a good fight. And, regardless of the final outcome, we look forward to seeing a Shoey revival on the podium. It’s make or break now for the man from down under, a final push for greatness.