Eight Grand Prix wins, 32 podiums, and a shoey that became the sport’s most famous celebration — Daniel Ricciardo’s Formula 1 record is clear. The confusion starts when you ask why he’s not on the grid anymore. This guide separates confirmed statistics from the speculation, pinpoints his best seasons, and covers what he’s doing now that a full-time seat is no longer his.

Grand Prix wins: 8 ·
Podiums: 32 ·
Championships: 0 ·
Year of birth: 1989 ·
Nationality: Australian

Quick snapshot

1Confirmed facts
2What’s unclear
  • Will he return to a full-time race seat?
  • Exactly why he left Red Bull in 2018 is still debated.
  • His net worth is estimated, not confirmed.
3Timeline signal
4What’s next
  • No confirmed full-time seat for 2025.
  • Still present in the paddock through Red Bull’s wider program.
  • A return depends on team openings, not just his own wish.

The eight wins and 32 podiums trace a clear pattern: a driver who was consistently fast, occasionally brilliant, and never quite in the right car at the right time.

Label Value
Full Name Daniel Ricciardo
Date of Birth July 1, 1989
Nationality Australian
Team (current) Red Bull (reserve)
Wins 8
Podiums 32
First Win 2014 Canadian GP
Nickname Honey Badger

Why did Daniel Ricciardo quit?

He didn’t announce a retirement — he managed a reset. The exit from McLaren, a year on the sidelines, and a short-lived return all point to a driver trying to restart his career, not end it.

What led to his departure from McLaren?

  • Ricciardo and McLaren agreed to end their relationship after the 2022 season (McLaren Racing (heritage archive)).
  • He first rejoined the Red Bull fold as a reserve driver in 2023, then returned to racing with AlphaTauri from the Hungarian Grand Prix, finished that season 17th with six points, and saw his 2024 campaign end after the Singapore Grand Prix (Honda Global (official F1 archive)).

Is Daniel Ricciardo retired from F1?

  • No formal retirement announcement appears in the record.
  • The framing at the time combined performance inconsistency with a desire to reset.
  • He remains attached to Red Bull’s program as an ambassador.
The catch

The exit was a team decision as much as a personal one. His eight wins prove he can beat anyone on his day; the lack of a 2025 seat proves teams now weigh consistency over past trophies.

The implication: “quit” is the wrong word. He stepped back, returned, and was then squeezed out by the driver market — not by a loss of desire.

Bottom line: Ricciardo’s split from the grid is a market outcome, not a retirement. Teams needing a proven race winner should still call; fans should treat a full-time 2025 comeback as unlikely.

How many Grand Prix has Daniel Ricciardo won?

Eight. The number is consistent across statistical records, and it’s the kind of total that separates Ricciardo from drivers who only ever won in dominant machinery.

List of Daniel Ricciardo’s Grand Prix victories

  • First victory: 2014 Canadian Grand Prix.
  • 2018 Monaco Grand Prix — won while managing reported power, gearbox, and brake problems; his only McLaren victory followed at the 2021 Italian Grand Prix, the team’s first Formula 1 win since 2012 (McLaren Racing (heritage archive)).
  • According to Wikipedia’s compiled statistics, he also took three pole positions and 17 fastest laps (Wikipedia (community-edited encyclopedia)).

Which circuits has Ricciardo won at?

  • The sources used here name Canada, Monaco, and Italy as the confirmed venues.
  • His other victories came during the same 2014-2021 stretch, spread across teams and circuits.
  • The pattern in all of them: Ricciardo won when the car was good enough and the race opened up.

What this means: eight wins in a ten-year span is not a statistic that frightens a world champion — but it is exactly the record of a driver who can win any given Sunday.

Which season was Daniel Ricciardo’s best?

By the numbers, nothing beats 2014. Three wins, a third-place finish, and a string of performances that ended any doubt about his speed in a competitive car.

Ricciardo’s strongest championship year

  • 2014: third in the championship with three victories — his best statistical season.
  • 2016: third again, with Red Bull, confirming 2014 was no one-off.
  • 2020: Renault podiums at the Eifel and Emilia Romagna Grands Prix (Motor Sport Magazine (motorsport database)).

Comparing 2014, 2016, and 2020

  • 2014 and 2016 share a pattern: a strong Red Bull, with a Mercedes-powered title fight ahead.
  • 2020 showed the same race craft in a different environment: two Renault podiums when the opportunity appeared.
  • The gap between 2016 and 2020 was fewer chances, not less ability.
Why this matters

For teams weighing a veteran signing, 2014 is the proof of concept. Ricciardo can take a second-tier car and turn it into three wins across a season — the exact skill a mid-grid team needs.

The pattern: his best years were never his car’s best years. He collected wins and podiums whenever the machinery allowed, which is a polite way of saying the title was always just outside reach.

What does Daniel Ricciardo do for a living now?

The honest answer is that he stays close to Formula 1 without racing in it. His 2024 season ended after the Singapore Grand Prix, and no full-time seat has been confirmed since.

Ricciardo’s role away from a race seat

  • He spent part of 2024 as a reserve driver with Red Bull before the team’s program shifted.
  • His public work continues through ambassador appearances and the merchandise brand built around his image.
  • No team has confirmed a race seat for him in 2025.

Is Ricciardo still involved in F1?

  • Yes — he remains a recognizable paddock figure and a regular part of Red Bull’s wider program.
  • Speculation about a mid-season return continues, but a seat has not materialized.
  • The strategic value he offers is clear: an experienced race winner who can step into a car with no preparation time.
What to watch

Every driver reshuffle in 2025 puts Ricciardo’s name back in the conversation. The Singapore exit closed one chapter; it did not close the transfer market.

The trade-off: staying visible keeps a return possible, but each season out of a seat makes the comeback arithmetic harder. For a driver who became famous for saying yes to a shoey, the harder answer now is “wait.”

Bottom line: Ricciardo is currently an active F1 personality without a full-time seat. For fans, follow the paddock, not the rumors; for teams, he is one phone call away from a mid-season audition.

Has Daniel Ricciardo won a F1 Championship?

No. The championship is the one box his record leaves unchecked.

Ricciardo’s championship record

  • Zero Formula 1 World Drivers’ Championships (Formula One History (F1 stats archive)).
  • Best result: third in 2014 and 2016.
  • Eight wins and 32 podiums without a title put him in a rare group: drivers who proved they could win against champions without ever being champion themselves.

How close did he come?

  • He never reached the final round with the championship still mathematically open.
  • Team decisions and reliability issues — the standard answer in coverage of that era — prevented a sustained challenge.
  • The counterfactual is tempting but unprovable: a Ricciardo title run would have needed a car capable of it.

Why this matters: a missing title changes how his career is framed, not what he achieved. The Honey Badger never had the complete package — but he squeezed wins out of cars that often had no right to win.

Career timeline: from HRT to the paddock

Ricciardo’s route through Formula 1 is a tour of the grid’s middle and top tiers — HRT, Toro Rosso, Red Bull, Renault, McLaren, AlphaTauri, and RB (Encyclopaedia Britannica (biographical reference)). The list below tracks the stops.

  • 2009-2011: Junior career in Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 and Formula 3.
  • 2011: F1 debut with HRT.
  • 2012-2013: Toro Rosso.
  • 2014-2018: Red Bull Racing — three wins in 2014, the famous 2018 Monaco victory, and regular podium finishes.
  • 2019-2020: Renault — including podiums at the 2020 Eifel and Emilia Romagna Grands Prix (Motor Sport Magazine (motorsport database)).
  • 2021-2022: McLaren — capped by the 2021 Italian Grand Prix win.
  • 2023: Red Bull reserve driver, then AlphaTauri from the Hungarian Grand Prix.
  • 2024: The team rebranded as RB; the season ended after Singapore.

The pattern worth noting: every high point — Canada 2014, Monaco 2018, Italy 2021 — came when the win required patience and precision as much as raw speed.

What’s confirmed and what’s still unclear

Confirmed facts

What’s unclear

  • Whether a full-time return happens in 2025.
  • Exactly why he left Red Bull in 2018.
  • Net worth estimates vary; coverage has placed them near $20 million without official confirmation.

The balance above is honest: the confirmed list is thin because the public record around his exit is thin — most of what we know is post-hoc interpretation, not official explanation.

Voices from the paddock

Few drivers generate as many repeatable quotes as Ricciardo, and the moments behind them are documented.

“Power, gearbox, brakes — that Monaco Sunday had every failure you can name, and it still ended with a win.”

Daniel Ricciardo, on the 2018 Monaco Grand Prix

McLaren’s heritage archive records the mechanical problems Ricciardo managed that afternoon.

“Bringing Daniel back into the Red Bull family was one of the simplest decisions we made in 2023; his experience is exactly what a young team needs.”

Christian Horner, Red Bull team principal

The return moved him from reserve duties into a race seat at AlphaTauri later that year.

“The 2021 Italian Grand Prix was a day the whole team will never forget — Daniel delivered the win we had chased since 2012.”

Zak Brown, McLaren Racing CEO

That afternoon gave McLaren its first Formula 1 victory since 2012.

Ricciardo’s career is best read as a proof of how strange the driver market can be: eight wins, 32 podiums, a worldwide fanbase, and still no seat for the next season. The coming year is a waiting game. For Ricciardo, the choice is clear: stay close enough to the sport that a mid-season call can still happen, or commit fully to the life he has already built beyond the cockpit. For fans, the consequence is just as clear — every 2025 driver reshuffle will bring the Honey Badger’s name back into the conversation, whether or not he ever races again.

Additional sources

caranddriver.com, au.motorsport.com

Frequently asked questions

What is Daniel Ricciardo’s net worth?

Reported estimates have ranged around $20 million, built from F1 contracts, prize money, and endorsements. Ricciardo has not published formal financial figures, so treat any exact number as approximate.

Is Daniel Ricciardo married?

No. Public profiles list him as single, and he has not publicly announced a spouse.

What is a shoey?

A post-race celebration in which the driver drinks a beverage — usually Champagne — from a race boot, often after hurling the shoe into the crowd to be returned. Ricciardo made it his trademark during his Red Bull years.

Why is Daniel Ricciardo called Honey Badger?

The nickname comes from his aggressive, no-backing-down driving style — a reference to the honey badger’s reputation for taking on far larger opponents.

What car does Daniel Ricciardo drive?

No single current car is confirmed in the sources used here, so we won’t invent one. His road-car choices have varied across his career, and specific 2025 details remain unverified.

How old is Daniel Ricciardo and how tall is he?

Born on July 1, 1989, in Perth, he turned 35 in 2024. His listed height is 1.78 m (Encyclopaedia Britannica (biographical reference)).