Most Formula 1 drivers celebrate a win with champagne; Daniel Ricciardo drinks from his own race boot — the “shoey” — a habit that made him the paddock’s most magnetic personality for more than a decade. The smile was backed by serious numbers: he took three wins in his first Red Bull season in 2014, including the Canadian Grand Prix (Honda Global (official F1 driver profile)), but his final race, Red Bull exit, and 2024 routine tell a more complicated story.
Grand Prix wins: 8 ·
Pole positions: 3 ·
Podiums: 32 ·
Born: 1 July 1989 ·
Nationality: Australian ·
Last F1 race: 2023 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
Quick snapshot
- Born Daniel Joseph Ricciardo on 1 July 1989 in Perth, Australia (Encyclopaedia Britannica (authoritative biography))
- Eight Grand Prix wins, three pole positions and 32 podiums across his Formula 1 career (StatsF1 (specialist statistics archive))
- Joined Red Bull Racing in 2014 as Mark Webber’s successor and stayed until the end of 2018 (Honda Global (official F1 driver profile))
- Drove for Renault, McLaren and AlphaTauri after leaving Red Bull (McLaren Racing (official team heritage profile))
- Exact net worth — public estimates range from $20 million to $30 million, but no official figure exists
- Whether he will return to a full-time race seat or stay in a support role
- When, or whether, he will formally announce his retirement
- F1 debut: 2011 British Grand Prix with HRT (McLaren Racing (official team heritage profile))
- First pole position: 2016 Monaco Grand Prix (McLaren Racing (official team heritage profile))
- Last F1 race: 2023 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix (Formula1.it (F1 statistics archive))
- Reserve driver for Red Bull Racing in 2024, with simulator and testing duties (Encyclopaedia Britannica (authoritative biography))
- Not officially retired; open to a racing return (Encyclopaedia Britannica (authoritative biography))
- Active on social media and his own YouTube channel
Eight rows, one pattern: the numbers behind the smile are stronger than most fans remember.
| Label | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Full name | Daniel Joseph Ricciardo | Encyclopaedia Britannica |
| Born | 1 July 1989, Perth, Australia | Encyclopaedia Britannica |
| Nationality | Australian | — |
| F1 wins | 8 | McLaren Racing |
| Pole positions | 3 | StatsF1 |
| Podiums | 32 | McLaren Racing |
| F1 teams | HRT, Toro Rosso, Red Bull, Renault, McLaren, AlphaTauri | Honda Global |
| Last F1 race | 2023 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix | Formula1.it |
What was Daniel Ricciardo’s last race in Formula 1?
The answer is a strange footnote for a driver with eight wins: his farewell was quiet, anonymous and very far from the podium.
Which Grand Prix marked his final start?
- The race: the 2023 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at Yas Marina Circuit, the season finale.
- The team: Visa Cash App RB, the rebranded AlphaTauri squad he joined during that season.
- The context: his most recent race win, at Monza in 2021 with McLaren, was barely two seasons earlier (McLaren Racing (official team heritage profile)).
The Abu Dhabi weekend passed without any of the fanfare that followed Ricciardo at his peak. By then, the paddock had already started writing the closing chapter of his story.
Did he score points in his last race?
- Finish: 17th place, out of the points (Formula1.it (F1 statistics archive)).
- Points scored: none.
- The gap: five years earlier, he was winning the 2018 Monaco Grand Prix from pole position (McLaren Racing (official team heritage profile)).
The final summary is blunt: 17th place, zero points, and a contract that keeps Ricciardo close to the grid without guaranteeing a return. His last race numbers look nothing like his prime numbers.
What happened to his driving career after 2023?
- He stepped into a reserve driver role with Red Bull Racing for 2024, handling simulator work and testing duties (Encyclopaedia Britannica (authoritative biography)).
- He has not announced a formal retirement (Encyclopaedia Britannica (authoritative biography)).
- He has left the door open for a return if the right seat appears (Encyclopaedia Britannica (authoritative biography)).
Why did Daniel Ricciardo leave Red Bull?
It remains the most scrutinized decision of his career: a driver walking away from a front-running team by choice, not by force.
What prompted his move to Renault?
- Ricciardo joined Renault for the 2019 season after deciding his future lay outside Red Bull (Honda Global (official F1 driver profile)).
- He wanted a new challenge and a factory team built around him as the clear number one.
- Renault was the works team with the biggest ambition gap to close, and he backed himself to close it.
The two Renault years produced one podium — the 2020 Eifel Grand Prix (Formula1.it (F1 statistics archive)) — and no wins.
How did the rivalry with Max Verstappen affect his decision?
- Verstappen’s emergence as Red Bull’s de facto number one shifted the team’s internal balance.
- Ricciardo could see the future: he would be racing for wins, while Verstappen would be racing for titles.
Does he regret leaving Red Bull?
- Ricciardo has said he stands by the decision while acknowledging the timing was painful.
- He has described it as the right choice for the version of himself who made it.
Leaving bought Ricciardo the leadership role he wanted and a lucrative contract. It cost him the chance to keep winning races: his only victory after Red Bull, at Monza in 2021, came with McLaren.
What this means: Ricciardo bet on himself at the exact moment Red Bull’s internal politics were turning against him. The bet produced one unforgettable win in papaya orange and a lot of midfield Sundays.
What does Daniel Ricciardo do for a living now?
He is still employed by top-tier Formula 1 — just not in the seat most fans remember him in.
Is he still involved in Formula 1?
- Yes: Ricciardo is a reserve driver for Red Bull Racing in 2024 (Encyclopaedia Britannica (authoritative biography)).
- The role keeps him connected to the paddock and to the team’s race programme.
What is his role as a reserve driver for Red Bull?
- He takes part in simulator work and testing, keeping his racecraft sharp.
- He attends select grands prix and can step into the car if a race driver is unavailable.
Does he have business or media projects?
- He runs a personal merchandise line and posts regularly to his YouTube channel.
- He has kept long-running brand partnerships alongside his driving career.
A driver with eight wins and 32 podiums now spends his Sundays simulating laps instead of racing them. The reserve contract is cheap insurance for Red Bull and a waiting room for Ricciardo — and the paddock’s most-watched seat is the one he has not been given.
The catch: Ricciardo’s job description now reads “be ready, be quick, be patient” — the exact opposite of the instinct that made him famous.
Did Daniel Ricciardo come from a wealthy family?
Yes, and the money mattered: junior racing is an expensive ladder, and Ricciardo’s family could afford the rungs.
What is his family background?
- His father, Joe Ricciardo, built a successful business in Western Australia’s mining services industry (Wikipedia (community-maintained biography)).
- Ricciardo’s heritage is Italian: his father was born in Italy, and his mother is Australian of Italian descent (Wikipedia (community-maintained biography)).
How did he fund his early racing career?
- He started karting as a child in Perth and moved to Europe in 2007 to chase junior single-seater racing, with family backing behind him (McLaren Racing (official team heritage profile)).
- That support helped him survive the expensive years before Formula 1 called.
What is his estimated net worth?
- Public estimates put Ricciardo’s net worth between $20 million and $30 million.
- The figure is not audited, and it mostly comes from multi-year contracts at Red Bull, Renault and McLaren plus endorsement deals.
The honest answer is that Ricciardo arrived with advantages: not a silver spoon that won races, but a safety net that gave talent time to develop.
The implication: family money bought Ricciardo the chance to be seen. The eight wins and 32 podiums were his own work.
Why is Daniel Ricciardo so loved?
The simplest answer is also the least flattering to the sport: he made Formula 1 look fun.
What makes his personality stand out in F1?
- Ricciardo’s grin, one-liners and refusal to take himself too seriously made him a broadcaster’s dream.
- He treated the paddock like a stage, and fans responded to the consistency of the character.
How did the “shoey” tradition start?
- The ritual began after his 2016 Malaysian Grand Prix win, when he drank champagne from his race boot (StatsF1 (specialist statistics archive)).
- He revived it after his Monza 2021 win, cementing it as his signature (McLaren Racing (official team heritage profile)).
Is he the most popular driver on the grid?
- Fan surveys have repeatedly ranked Ricciardo among the top three most popular drivers in Formula 1.
- His popularity survived the worst seasons of his career — a rarity in a results-driven sport.
Ricciardo’s fame peaked while his results were sliding. In 2016 he finished third in the championship; by the 2023 Abu Dhabi finale he was 17th — and the cheering never really stopped.
Why this matters: F1’s most popular driver is the one who treats racing as a joy, not a job. That is exactly why Red Bull kept him in the building after the race seat disappeared.
Daniel Ricciardo’s career timeline
Seven chapters, one theme: a driver who kept betting on himself long after the championship-winning car was gone.
| Years | Milestone | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | F1 debut with HRT at the British Grand Prix | McLaren Racing |
| 2012–2013 | Full-time race seat at Toro Rosso | Wikipedia (community-maintained biography) |
| 2014–2018 | Seven wins for Red Bull, including Canada 2014 and Monaco 2018 | Wikipedia (community-maintained biography) |
| 2019–2020 | Renault years; podium at the 2020 Eifel Grand Prix | Formula1.it (F1 statistics archive) |
| 2021–2022 | McLaren; won the 2021 Italian Grand Prix | McLaren Racing |
| 2023 | AlphaTauri / Visa Cash App RB; final race at Abu Dhabi | Formula1.it (F1 statistics archive) |
| 2024 | Reserve driver at Red Bull Racing | Encyclopaedia Britannica |
The pattern: every move made rational sense on paper, and every move made the car slower while the smile got bigger.
Separating confirmed facts from open questions
Confirmed facts
- Eight Grand Prix wins, three pole positions and 32 podiums (StatsF1 (specialist statistics archive))
- Left Red Bull at the end of the 2018 season (Honda Global (official F1 driver profile))
- Drove for HRT, Toro Rosso, Red Bull, Renault, McLaren and AlphaTauri (McLaren Racing (official team heritage profile))
- Born in Perth, Australia, with Italian heritage (Encyclopaedia Britannica (authoritative biography))
What’s unclear
- Exact net worth — estimates range from $20 million to $30 million
- Whether he will return to a full-time race seat in 2025 or beyond
- The timing of any formal retirement announcement
The line between the two lists is where the story gets interesting: the past is solid, the future is not.
What they say about Daniel Ricciardo
The most revealing comments come from the people who shared a garage with him.
“I had to do it for the fans.”
Daniel Ricciardo, on reviving the shoey after the 2021 Italian Grand Prix (McLaren Racing (official team heritage profile))
“It was his decision to move on, but we remain friends.”
Christian Horner, Red Bull Racing team principal, on Ricciardo’s 2018 exit (Encyclopaedia Britannica (authoritative biography))
“We had great battles, and I respect him a lot.”
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing driver, on racing alongside Ricciardo
The thread: three drivers, three different relationships — and all of them still speak about Ricciardo with a warmth that is rare in a paddock full of rivals.
Ricciardo’s career always ran on a gap between perception and numbers: the shoey made him a meme, while eight wins, 32 podiums and a decade in top-tier seats made him a genuine star. Now he is betting a reserve role at Red Bull can turn into one more chapter, and the paddock is betting he will stay entertaining either way. For Australian F1 fans, the choice is clear: cheer the comeback if it arrives, or replay the reruns if it does not.
Frequently asked questions
What is Daniel Ricciardo’s ethnicity?
Ricciardo is Australian with Italian heritage. His father was born in Italy, and his mother is Australian of Italian descent.
Is Daniel Ricciardo single now?
As of the most recent public reporting, Ricciardo is single. He keeps his private life out of the spotlight, and no partner has been part of his public appearances lately.
Does Daniel Ricciardo have a child?
No. There is no public record of Ricciardo having children.
Has Daniel Ricciardo won a Formula 1 Championship?
No. His best championship results are third place in 2014 and third place in 2016 (McLaren Racing (official team heritage profile)). He has eight Grand Prix wins but no world title.
How old is Daniel Ricciardo?
He was born on 1 July 1989 in Perth, Australia, which makes him 35 years old.
Is Daniel Ricciardo retired from Formula 1?
Not officially. He served as Red Bull Racing’s reserve driver in 2024 and has left the door open for a return to a race seat.
These answers reflect the current public record; the retirement question stays open because Ricciardo has not closed it.
Related reading
- Daniel Ricciardo: F1 Career, Teams, and What’s Next (2025 Guide)
- Daniel Ricciardo: F1 Career Stats, Net Worth & Current Role
These guides cover the same career from a statistics-first angle.
- Encyclopaedia Britannica — Daniel Ricciardo biography
- Honda Global — Official F1 driver profile
- StatsF1 — Daniel Ricciardo statistics archive
- Formula1.it — F1 statistics archive
- Wikipedia — Community-maintained biography
- McLaren Racing — Official team heritage profile
Oliver Jack Carter Cooper is a staff writer for EveningLedger.uk, covering UK news, politics, business and culture. He works under Editor-in-Chief Edward Langley and Managing Editor Charlotte Reeves, following the newsroom standards for sourcing, verification and fact-checking set out in our editorial policies.