99 Facts About Daniel Ricciardo

Daniel Joseph Ricciardo is an Italian-Australian racing driver who last raced in Formula One driving for McLaren, under the Australian flag.

Daniel Ricciardo made his debut at the 2011 British Grand Prix with the HRT team as part of a deal with Red Bull Racing, for whom he was test driving under its sister team Scuderia Toro Rosso.

Daniel Ricciardo has achieved 8 Grand Prix victories in Formula One.

In 2014, Daniel Ricciardo was promoted to Red Bull as a replacement for the retired Mark Webber alongside multiple time world champion Sebastian Vettel.

Daniel Ricciardo has since added victories for Red Bull at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in 2017 and the Chinese and Monaco Grands Prix in 2018.

Daniel Ricciardo joined McLaren for the 2021 and 2022 Formula One seasons, alongside Lando Norris.

Daniel Ricciardo obtained his first race win with McLaren at the 2021 Italian Grand Prix.

Daniel Ricciardo serves as the third driver for Red Bull Racing from 2023.

Daniel Joseph Ricciardo was born on 1 July 1989 in Perth, Western Australia, to Italian-Australian parents.

Daniel Ricciardo's father, Giuseppe "Joe" Ricciardo, was born in Ficarra, but relocated to Australia with his family aged just seven.

Daniel Ricciardo's mother, Grace was born in Australia, but had parents originally from Casignana.

Daniel Ricciardo is in a relationship with Heidi Berger, the daughter of former F1 driver Gerhard Berger.

Daniel Ricciardo started karting at the age of nine, as a member of the Tiger Kart Club and entered numerous karting events.

Towards the end of the season, Daniel 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 aging car was uncompetitive as he finished 16th, 17th and retired during the weekend's three races.

Daniel Ricciardo moved to the British Formula 3 Championship for the 2009 season driving for Carlin Motorsport.

Daniel Ricciardo continued his partnership with Carlin, by heading to the Macau Grand Prix with the team.

On 30 October 2009, Daniel Ricciardo was signed by Tech 1 to compete in the 2010 season.

Daniel Ricciardo had competed with the team at the Autodromo Internacional do Algarve in Portugal in 2009, and was the teammate to Brendon Hartley, another driver who drove for Tech 1 over the season.

Daniel Ricciardo 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, Daniel Ricciardo was relegated to last on the grid after being deemed to have hindered the laps of other drivers.

One week later, in Monte Carlo, Daniel Ricciardo secured his third pole position of the season, finishing three-tenths of a second ahead of championship rival Stefano Coletti.

Daniel Ricciardo secured his first win at the following race, one place ahead of Coletti.

Daniel Ricciardo went on to secure two more wins at the Hungaroring and at the Hockenheimring in commanding fashion.

At the first race at the Silverstone circuit, Daniel Ricciardo was involved in a spectacular incident with pole-sitter Jon Lancaster, in which Daniel Ricciardo was sent into a barrel roll, eventually landing on his wheels.

In 2011 Daniel Ricciardo raced for ISR Racing prior to his HRT call-up.

Red Bull Racing's team manager Christian Horner suggested that Daniel Ricciardo may replace his 2010 World Series teammate Hartley as the team's test and reserve driver.

Days after completing this session, Daniel 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.

On 30 June 2011, Daniel 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.

Daniel Ricciardo made his Grand Prix debut at the 2011 British Grand Prix at Silverstone.

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

At the 2012 Australian Grand Prix on 18 March 2012, Daniel 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.

Daniel 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.

Daniel Ricciardo was later disqualified, as his car was ruled to have exceeded the mandated hourly fuel flow rate limit.

Daniel 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.

Daniel Ricciardo 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.

Daniel Ricciardo then went on to score his third victory of his career to go back to back in Belgium, becoming the first Australian to win there since Jack Brabham in 1960, making him the only non-Mercedes driver to have won a Grand Prix in 2014.

On 8 February 2015, during the third episode of series 22 of the popular British motoring television programme Top Gear, Daniel 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.

Daniel Ricciardo achieved his first top-five finish in Monaco with fifth and the fastest lap of the race.

Daniel Ricciardo recorded his second podium of the season in Singapore where he finished second and recorded his third fastest lap of the season.

Daniel Ricciardo finished the season with 92 points in eighth place in the championship, three points behind teammate Daniil Kvyat.

Daniel Ricciardo scored his first pole position at the Monaco Grand Prix, and led the early wet stages of the race.

Daniel Ricciardo returned to the podium in Hungary, finishing third, and in Germany, where he finished second.

Daniel Ricciardo repeated the celebration at the Belgian Grand Prix, this time persuading podium interviewer Mark Webber to drink from the shoe.

Daniel Ricciardo then took the lead late on in the race when leader Lewis Hamilton retired with an engine failure.

Daniel Ricciardo 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.

Daniel Ricciardo eventually sealed third in the Drivers' Championship following a podium finish in Mexico.

Daniel Ricciardo incurred a five-place grid penalty due to an unscheduled gearbox change as a result of the crash.

Daniel Ricciardo finished on the podium five times in a row between Spain and Austria, and then three times in a row in Singapore, Malaysia and Japan.

Daniel 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.

At the 2018 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, Daniel Ricciardo was fighting for fourth with teammate Max Verstappen in the latter half of the race.

At the 2018 Spanish Grand Prix, Daniel Ricciardo finished fifth and set the track record, despite spinning under the virtual safety car.

Daniel Ricciardo topped all three practice sessions before qualifying, breaking the lap record with each session.

Daniel 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.

Daniel Ricciardo 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.

On 3 August 2018, it was announced that Daniel Ricciardo had signed a contract to drive for Renault in 2019 and 2020.

Daniel 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.

Daniel Ricciardo then suffered an exhaust failure at the German Grand Prix.

At the Italian Grand Prix, Daniel Ricciardo finished in 4th place, his best result of the year.

Daniel Ricciardo was involved in a first-lap collision in Russia, leading to his eventual retirement.

Daniel Ricciardo was initially classified 6th in Japan, before both Renault cars were disqualified ten days later for using illegal driver aids.

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

Daniel Ricciardo had a new teammate for the 2020 season with Hulkenberg being replaced by Esteban Ocon.

At the 2020 British Grand Prix, Daniel Ricciardo finished in fourth place, equaling his best result for Renault.

Daniel Ricciardo was running in sixth place before late tyre punctures for Carlos Sainz Jr.

Daniel Ricciardo would go on an eleven race point-scoring streak until the end of the season, starting with the 2020 Belgian Grand Prix.

At the Russian Grand Prix, Daniel Ricciardo was fastest in the second qualifying segment, but only managed to qualify in fifth place.

Daniel Ricciardo reached the podium a second time for Renault at the 2020 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.

Daniel Ricciardo took the fastest lap of the race on the final lap.

Daniel Ricciardo finished in fifth place in the championship standings with 119 points, six points behind Sergio Perez in fourth.

Daniel Ricciardo partnered with Lando Norris, who was retained by the team.

On lap four Pierre Gasly collided with Daniel Ricciardo, causing floor damage to his car resulting in the loss of a considerable amount of downforce.

Daniel Ricciardo moved up to fifth on the opening lap but was unable to keep pace with the top four cars in the wet conditions and was ordered to let Norris past to contend for the podium, which he did.

At the Portuguese Grand Prix, Daniel Ricciardo started from sixteenth after being knocked out during the first phase of qualifying.

Daniel Ricciardo defended fifth from Red Bull driver Sergio Perez until lap 45, where Perez was able to get past at turn one.

Daniel Ricciardo finished sixth, marking the first time in the season he finished ahead of Norris.

At the French Grand Prix, Daniel Ricciardo finished in sixth position.

At the Austrian Grand Prix, Daniel Ricciardo finished 7th after starting 13th.

Daniel Ricciardo finished Formula One's first-ever sprint race in 6th place after an overtaking move on Fernando Alonso in the closing stages.

Nonetheless, it was a weekend where Daniel Ricciardo was the quicker of the 2 McLaren drivers.

At the start of the race, Daniel Ricciardo got a better start than polesitter Max Verstappen and took the lead into turn 1.

Daniel Ricciardo held off Verstappen for 21 laps, surviving a safety car restart and late pressure from Norris whom he led home to claim his first victory for McLaren while setting the fastest lap.

At the Turkish Grand Prix, Daniel Ricciardo was knocked out in Q1 and took an engine penalty, starting at the back of the grid.

Daniel Ricciardo was then promoted to 6th place on the grid as a result of a grid penalty for Valtteri Bottas.

Daniel Ricciardo managed to hold on to 5th place, defending from Sainz and helping McLaren score crucial points in the battle for third place in the Constructors' Championship with Ferrari, while Norris finished 8th.

Daniel Ricciardo would be McLaren's main driver for the race, as Norris started last with an engine penalty.

Daniel Ricciardo made a blistering start and was alongside Sergio Perez for 4th place heading into turn one.

Daniel Ricciardo had a small lockup and made contact with Valtteri Bottas at turn one and suffered damage to his front wing.

At the Sao Paulo Grand Prix, Daniel Ricciardo ran in 8th place and challenged Pierre Gasly for seventh before he had to retire with a power issue, making it his first retirement of the season.

At the Qatar Grand Prix, Daniel Ricciardo was knocked out in Q2, qualifying 14th, and could only manage 12th in the race after fuel issues hindered his opportunity to progress.

Daniel Ricciardo managed to end his pointless streak at the penultimate race in Saudi Arabia.

Daniel Ricciardo ran in 4th after the second red flag, challenging Esteban Ocon for the podium position before he lost his 4th place to eventual third-place finisher Valtteri Bottas and settled for fifth place.

At the final race of the season in Abu Dhabi, Daniel Ricciardo managed to qualify in 10th place.

Daniel Ricciardo then finished 12th after he was overcut by Fernando Alonso and Pierre Gasly as a result of a virtual safety car.

Daniel Ricciardo ended the season in 8th place in the drivers standings, scoring 115 points with just one podium, his race win at Monza.

Daniel Ricciardo missed the final day of the 2022 pre-season test in Bahrain, due to a positive COVID-19 test on 11 March.

At the Australian Grand Prix, Daniel Ricciardo managed to qualify in 7th place, and finished in 6th place behind his teammate Norris in his home Grand Prix.

Daniel Ricciardo then failed to score points in the Canadian Grand Prix.

Daniel Ricciardo finished pointless at the Hungarian Grand Prix finishing 15th having received a 5 second penalty for colliding with Lance Stroll during the race.

Thanks to a marginally stronger second half of the season, where he scored points in three of his last six races, Daniel Ricciardo was able to finish the season in 11th position in the Drivers' Championship, although McLaren would finish behind Alpine in the Constructors' Championship.