As usual, the Australian Grand Prix in 2006 was an eclectic smorgasbord of fame and power, with everyone from actress Amanda Bynes to the Dutch Prime Minister, a 70s music icon, and the original Blue Wiggle in pit lane.
Daniel Ricciardo, 16, was quietly making small conversation in a corner with Italian driver Jarno Trulli and former Miss Universe Jennifer Hawkins.
The Perth lad had secured a spot in the race after being declared Australian go-karting champion the previous year, and on that day in April, his life changed.
Remo Luciani, a family friend and mentor, says that meeting Hawkins was the catalyst: “He was practically drooling.”
However, while rubbing elbows with Formula One stars and feeling the thunderous sound of
Their engines started, and the bashful teen got his first genuine taste of the world he was so determined to pursue. “I think he saw the picture – ‘this is where I belong, this is what I want to do’,” Luciani told the BBC.
After a few years, he was not only a part of that universe, but “a main character” in it.
His F1 career, which spanned 13 years and included an incredible 257 races, 32 podiums, and eight wins, came to an end last week when Red Bull withdrew him from the team.
He retires as one of the circuit’s most successful and popular drivers, as well as the golden boy of Australian motorsports.
Ricciardo has been making an impression since his motorsport-obsessed father took him to a go-kart track when he was nine years old.
“There’s those who get it at that age, and those who don’t, and he got it pretty quickly,” Tiger Kart Club legend John Wishart says.
Ricciardo did not completely dominate the competition, but he immediately established himself as a speedy but fair competitor with an infectious personality and a ferocious competitive spirit – a reputation he has maintained throughout his career.
“What you see on TV of Daniel today, he was exactly the same as a kid,” boyhood buddy Lewis Shugar tells the BBC.
“He was always laughing and having a good time, and if things didn’t go right for him, he still had a smile on his face,” said Wishart. “That in itself is a special talent.”
As he began to win races across Western Australia, word of his promise went to the east coast. Ricciardo soon joined Remo Racing, a self-proclaimed development squad headed by Luciani in Victoria.
“He was a very rapid learner with a strong determination. He constantly wanted to move faster. “I could see his hunger,” says Luciani, a karting star and Australian Motorsport Hall of Fame inductee.
Ricciardo won his first race with the team in 2005, and went on to win the national go-karting championship.
That year, he also raced Formula Fords in his home state. And with that, he was on his way overseas, a “big move” that, according to Ricciardo, “changed everything”.
Every year offered a new step up the ladder. In 2006, he raced in Asia before coming to Italy the following year and joining the Red Bull development programme as a “shy” and “immature” 18-year-old in 2008.
“Having that responsibility, that pressure, all of that, it forced me to grow up,” he told CNN Sport earlier this month.
In 2011 he made his long-awaited grand prix debut at Silverstone, on loan to Spanish team HRT, thrilling his supporters back home.
One described him as beating one-in-10-million odds.
“Just to sit in an F1 car is something that hardly anybody will ever do – so even just to have that opportunity is incredible,” Shugar says. The Honey Badger
But Ricciardo wasn’t satisfied with just any spot on the grid, and by 2014 he’d earned a call up to the main Red Bull team, replacing fellow countryman Mark Webber.
“I’m ready,” Ricciardo declared at the time: “I’m not here to run around in 10th place.”
True to his word, he won three races that year, outperforming teammate and defending champion Sebastian Vettel.
Over his four years at Red Bull, he became known as the Honey Badger – for the affable demeanour which belied his killer racing instincts.
“His trademark was these terrific late-braking moves that would catch drivers by surprise,” Australian F1 journalist Michael Lamonato told the BBC.
“He always said he wanted the kind of reputation that meant he would be feared when another driver would see him in their mirrors, and I think he really achieved that.”
At the same time, his off-track reputation was skyrocketing, long before the successful Netflix series Drive to Survive elevated F1 to new heights of acclaim.
“Daniel was one of the characters that was beginning to transcend the sport,” according to Lamonato.
His characteristic shoey celebration, which is credited with popularising the practice in Australia, as well as memeable media sound bites and amusing pranks, have endeared him to legions all over the world.
“He seems like a mate, someone you could make friends with at the pub,” Melbourne fan Issy Futcher adds.
“He’s made for this kind of stardom.”
The pinnacle of his career came with a gutsy win in Monaco in 2018, when he defended his lead for 50 laps while battling a failing engine, two years after a botched pit stop at the same circuit saw victory slip through his fingers.
“This was a redemption race… it really is his defining win,” Lamonato says.
But after ill-fated moves to Renault in 2019 and McLaren in 2021, where he struggled to replicate his previous success, he was left floundering in 2023 and returned to the broader Red Bull fold as a reserve driver.
He re-joined the starting line-up in its junior team – now called RB – halfway through the season though was soon derailed by a broken wrist and his form never recovered throughout 2024.
Rumours began to circulate and when the Singapore Grand Prix rolled around on 22 September, the writing was on the wall. In one last hurrah, Ricciardo was given a fresh set of tyres and set the fastest lap of the race.
After finishing last, the 35-year-old lingered in the cockpit for a beat.
In a teary post-race interview, Ricciardo said he was battling a lot of emotions.
“I’m aware it could be it,” he said. “I just wanted to savour the moment.”
He had only wanted to return to the grid if he could get podiums and so was “at peace” with his impending fate, he told Sky Sports. Days later, Red Bull confirmed he would be replaced for the rest of the season by young Kiwi Liam Lawson – news that stirred outrage and cries of mistreatment.
Team boss Christian Horner said Ricciardo’s statistics and accolades weren’t the only measure of his success.
“From the moment you arrived at Red Bull it was obvious you were so much more than just a driver. Your constant enthusiasm, sense of humour and attitude will leave an indelible legacy,” he said.
Amid a wave of tributes from his peers, Ricciardo said it had been a “wild and wonderful” journey.
“I’ve loved this sport my whole life… It’ll always have its highs and lows, but it’s been fun and truth be told I wouldn’t change it,” he wrote on Instagram.
“Until the next adventure.”
Legacy secured
While the details of his future adventure are unknown, Lamonato believes Ricciardo has already established himself as one of F1’s most underappreciated racers.
“The best way to sum up Daniel Ricciardo is a driver of immense potential who suffered what so many do, and that is career wrong turns.”
His long career is nearly unrivaled – only nine drivers have started more races – and his wins and podiums place him in the top 40 drivers of all time, which is especially noteworthy given that he did not race for the dominant team of the day.
And his legacy is already marked at home in Australia. Karting figures claim he’s encouraged both a boost in grassroots engagement and the next wave of Australian
Oscar Piastri and Jack Doohan are racing stars. Ricciardo is statistically the fourth most successful of Australia’s Formula One drivers, but many believe he will be regarded as the biggest.
“I don’t think anyone will have had an effect similar to him in terms of bringing the sport home to the audience,” adds Lamonato.
“[He] did Australia proud,” Luciani adds.
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