Few Formula 1 drivers wore the sport’s spotlight more naturally than Daniel Ricciardo — the smile, the shoey, the fearless late braking — but his career ended quietly, mid-season, after a final race in Singapore. By then he had 8 wins, 32 podiums, and years of fans wondering what went wrong.
F1 wins: 8 · Podiums: 32 · F1 world titles: 0 · Best championship finish: 3rd (2014, 2016) · F1 debut: 2011 British Grand Prix · Last F1 race: 2024 Singapore Grand Prix
Quick snapshot
- 8 Grand Prix wins and 32 podiums (Formula 1, official series site)
- Last F1 race: 2024 Singapore Grand Prix (Formula1Points, race statistics archive)
- 0 Formula 1 world titles (Wikipedia, encyclopedic profile)
- Whether he’ll ever return to a full-time F1 seat (F1Maximaal, F1 profile coverage)
- Exact net worth — never publicly disclosed (F1Maximaal, F1 profile coverage)
- Relationship status and family details (F1Maximaal, F1 profile coverage)
- 2014: first Red Bull season — 3 wins, 3rd in the championship (Formula 1, official series site)
- 2016: 256 points, 3rd again (Speedcafe, motorsport news outlet)
- 2024: replaced by Liam Lawson after Singapore (Crash.net, motorsport news outlet)
- No full-time race seat announced
- Brand partnerships and media appearances continue
- A comeback hasn’t been officially ruled out
Most of Ricciardo’s headline numbers were fixed early — the Red Bull years did the heavy lifting — and the profile data is consistent across reference sources like Wikipedia (encyclopedic profile).
| Attribute | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born | 1 July 1989, Perth, Australia |
| Height | 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) |
| F1 debut | 2011 British Grand Prix (Formula1Points, race statistics archive) |
| F1 wins | 8 (Formula 1, official series site) |
| Podiums | 32 |
| Best championship finish | 3rd (2014 and 2016) |
| Last F1 race | 2024 Singapore Grand Prix |
| Marital status / children | Not publicly confirmed / none publicly reported |
| Net worth | Not publicly disclosed |
The pattern: a career that peaked early and then spent six seasons searching for a car as quick as the one Ricciardo had at Red Bull.
Is Daniel Ricciardo still an F1 driver?
No. Ricciardo is not on the Formula 1 grid for the 2025 season. His last race was the 2024 Singapore Grand Prix, after which RB replaced him with Liam Lawson for the remaining rounds — a decision covered by Crash.net (motorsport news outlet). He hasn’t formally retired, but he also has no race seat to return to.
What does Daniel Ricciardo do for a living now?
- Public appearances and brand partnerships.
- Media work and paddock-adjacent roles.
- No full-time racing contract as of 2025.
In a 2025 interview covered by Speedcafe (motorsport news outlet), Ricciardo described the months after his last race as a real adjustment — swapping the rhythm of a race-weekend calendar for something looser and figuring out what a normal week looks like.
He has stayed visible, appearing at events and keeping his media profile alive, but the full-time racing chapter is, for now, closed.
For a closer look at his daily routine and the business side of his post-grid life, our article Daniel Ricciardo: Life After F1, Net Worth & Friends covers the details.
Is Daniel Ricciardo retired from Formula 1?
- No formal “I’m retiring” announcement.
- No seat for the 2025 season.
- Media coverage already frames it as a retirement.
The word is contested. Ricciardo hasn’t issued a grand farewell statement, and he has left the door slightly ajar on racing again. But the grid has moved on: teams filled their 2025 seats without him, which in practice makes it a retirement — even if the driver himself hasn’t said the word.
The implication: “retired” is a label Ricciardo hasn’t chosen, but the paddock has — and that distinction matters for any future comeback conversation.
How many Formula One championship wins did Daniel Ricciardo have?
The headline answer: 8 Grand Prix wins and zero Formula 1 world championships. His career record, per Formula 1 (official series site), stands at 257 starts, eight wins, three pole positions and 32 podiums — plus more than 1,300 championship points.
Has Daniel Ricciardo won a Formula 1 Championship?
- No — 0 world titles.
- Best championship finish: 3rd, twice (2014 and 2016).
Ricciardo came closest in 2014, his first year at Red Bull, and again in 2016. On both occasions he finished third in the standings but was never genuinely in the title fight deep into the final rounds.
How many Grand Prix wins did Daniel Ricciardo have?
- 8 Grand Prix wins in total.
- All 8 came with only two teams: Red Bull and McLaren.
According to Formula1Points (race statistics archive), seven of his eight wins came at Red Bull and his eighth arrived at the 2021 Italian Grand Prix with McLaren. That Monza victory was also the last of his career.
What were Daniel Ricciardo’s wins by team?
- Red Bull: 7 wins (2014–2018).
- McLaren: 1 win (2021 Italian Grand Prix).
- HRT, Toro Rosso, Renault, RB/AlphaTauri: 0 wins.
Worth noting: between his final Red Bull win at the 2018 Monaco Grand Prix and the 2021 Monza victory, more than three full seasons passed without a trip to the top step.
Eight wins across 14 seasons, but seven of them arrived in five Red Bull years. The win rate was a product of the car as much as the driver — and the post-Red Bull record shows exactly that.
Which season was Daniel Ricciardo’s best?
The honest answer is “it depends on the metric.” If points are the measure, 2016 wins. If race wins are the measure, 2014 wins. And both seasons ended with Ricciardo third in the championship, with Wikipedia (season record reference) listing 256 points in 2016 as his highest career total.
Was Daniel Ricciardo’s best season 2014 or 2016?
- 2014: 3 wins (Canada, Hungary, Belgium) and 3rd in the championship — his most wins in a single season.
- 2016: 256 points and 3rd again — his highest points total.
- 2014 had the statements; 2016 had the consistency.
The two seasons measure different things. 2014 was about arrival: a first win in Canada, another in Hungary, another in Belgium, all inside his debut Red Bull campaign. 2016 was about accumulation: a steadier, more complete season that produced more points than any other in his career.
How many points did Daniel Ricciardo score in his best season?
- 256 points in 2016 — his highest season total.
- That produced a 3rd-place finish in the drivers’ championship.
The 256-point campaign is the statistical peak of Ricciardo’s career under the points system in use at the time. It didn’t produce the highlight-reel wins of 2014, but it produced results week after week.
What was Daniel Ricciardo’s best championship position?
- 3rd — twice, in 2014 and 2016.
Both times the title fight was between Mercedes’ two drivers, and Ricciardo ended the year as the top non-Mercedes driver on the grid.
The “best season” argument depends on what you value: 2014 delivered the moments, while 2016 delivered the numbers. Both ended in the same place — third.
Why did Daniel Ricciardo’s career end?
The short version: the results stopped matching the reputation. McLaren and Ricciardo ended their partnership before the 2023 season after a difficult period — Crash.net (motorsport news outlet) — and he returned to Red Bull’s driver pool as a reserve, a step down he accepted to stay close to the paddock.
He didn’t stay on the sidelines for long. When AlphaTauri removed Nyck de Vries during the 2023 season, Ricciardo stepped into the seat — F1Maximaal (F1 profile coverage) — then stayed with the rebranded RB team for 2024.
RB replaced him with Liam Lawson after the 2024 Singapore Grand Prix, closing the full-time F1 chapter.
Why did McLaren drop Daniel Ricciardo?
- Contract ended a year early, before 2023.
- The results matched the expectations poorly.
McLaren’s decision was framed as performance-related. Ricciardo joined in 2021, won the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, but the rest of his two seasons at the team was a difficult stretch that both sides decided to end a year early.
Why did RB replace Daniel Ricciardo with Liam Lawson?
- Lawson was promoted for the final rounds of 2024.
- RB chose the younger Red Bull program driver.
RB’s driver decision pointed in one direction: priority to the Red Bull pipeline. After a partial 2023 return and a 2024 campaign that ended in Singapore, the team chose to promote Liam Lawson for the season’s remaining rounds.
Did Ricciardo regret leaving Red Bull?
- He has repeatedly said no.
- He saw it as a risk worth taking.
Ricciardo made the call to leave Red Bull after the 2018 season, joining Renault for 2019. The results never matched his Red Bull years, but he has publicly defended the decision, saying he needed a new challenge and does not regret taking it.
Is Max Verstappen still friends with Daniel Ricciardo?
- Yes, by all public accounts.
- The friendship predates and outlasts their Red Bull partnership.
Verstappen and Ricciardo shared the Red Bull garage from 2016 to 2018 and have remained close since. Both have talked about the friendship in interviews, and Ricciardo’s return to Red Bull as a reserve in 2023 was widely described as a natural fit on a personal level.
Leaving Red Bull cost Ricciardo materially. Seven of his eight wins came in those five seasons; the six seasons after produced exactly one win — at Monza in 2021 — before the grid ran out of patience.
The pattern is uncomfortable but consistent: Ricciardo didn’t suddenly lose talent — he lost the machinery that made his talent visible. His late-career results look like a decline because they were measured in cars that couldn’t win.
The implication: the cost of leaving Red Bull was higher than anticipated, and the paddock’s patience ran out.
Did Daniel Ricciardo come from a wealthy family?
No. Ricciardo grew up in Perth, Western Australia, in a family with no Formula 1 connections and no obvious motorsport wealth — Speedcafe (motorsport news outlet). His route to F1 was built on results in junior categories rather than family funding.
Who is the richest guy in F1?
- No official ranking exists.
- Published net-worth figures vary widely.
Depending on the outlet, the answer shifts between team owners, veteran champions, and newer stars with massive endorsement portfolios. None of those figures are independently audited, and F1 itself publishes no wealth table.
Who was a poor F1 driver?
- The label is subjective.
- No official data names any driver as poor.
F1’s history is full of drivers who needed sponsorship or family money to reach the grid, but “poor” is a relative term in a sport where even a backmarker’s budget dwarfs most people’s income. No official record classifies drivers by wealth.
What this means: the money conversation around F1 is mostly guesswork dressed as data. Ricciardo’s own net worth has never been officially disclosed, so any specific number online is an estimate, not a fact. We gathered the available picture in Daniel Ricciardo: F1 Career Stats, Net Worth & Current Role.
Is Daniel Ricciardo married?
Not publicly. There is no public marriage record, and Ricciardo has not confirmed a spouse — F1Maximaal (F1 profile coverage). He has been linked to partners over the years but has kept those details out of the spotlight.
Does Daniel Ricciardo have a child?
- None publicly reported.
There is no public record of Ricciardo having a child. Compared with many of his peers, who post family content openly, Ricciardo’s personal life is notably quiet — a deliberate contrast with his always-on public persona.
The implication: what the public knows about Ricciardo’s private life is close to nothing, and that seems to be exactly how he wants it.
Eight wins, 257 starts, six team identities — the team-by-team ledger explains the rise and the fall better than any single season.
| Team | Years | Wins | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| HRT | 2011 | 0 | F1 debut |
| Toro Rosso | 2012–2013 | 0 | Red Bull’s junior squad at the time |
| Red Bull | 2014–2018 | 7 | Career peak |
| Renault | 2019–2020 | 0 | Leadership gamble |
| McLaren | 2021–2022 | 1 | 2021 Italian Grand Prix |
| RB / AlphaTauri | 2023–2024 | 0 | Final chapter |
The trade-off is visible in a single column: the six seasons after Red Bull produced exactly one win.
Career timeline
- — Born in Perth, Australia, on 1 July (Wikipedia, encyclopedic profile).
- — Made his F1 debut with HRT at the British Grand Prix (Formula1Points, race statistics archive).
- — Drove for Red Bull, won 3 races, finished 3rd in the championship (Formula 1, official series site).
- — Finished 3rd again with 256 points, his highest season total (Speedcafe, motorsport news outlet).
- — Announced he would leave Red Bull for Renault (Crash.net, motorsport news outlet).
- — Drove for Renault.
- — Drove for McLaren; won the 2021 Italian Grand Prix (F1Maximaal, F1 profile coverage).
- — Red Bull third driver, then moved to AlphaTauri/RB mid-season.
- — Drove for RB; last race was the Singapore Grand Prix, after which Liam Lawson replaced him.
- — Not on the Formula 1 grid.
The pattern: reading the timeline backward, the fade is easier to see — two seasons at McLaren, a year as a reserve, one final partial season, and then the call.
Confirmed facts and what’s unclear
Confirmed facts
- Ricciardo’s last F1 race was the 2024 Singapore Grand Prix.
- He won 8 Grands Prix and never won the World Drivers’ Championship.
- He grew up in Perth, Australia — not in a wealthy or F1-connected family (Wikipedia, encyclopedic profile).
- There is no public marriage record and no publicly reported child.
What’s unclear
- Whether Ricciardo will ever return to a full-time F1 race seat.
- His exact current relationship status.
- His exact net worth, which he has never made public.
- Whether he formally labels his F1 exit a retirement.
- What his next competitive step, if any, would look like.
Why this balance matters: the confirmed facts are all verifiable results. The unclear items are all personal or forward-looking — which is where most speculation about Ricciardo lives.
What the paddock has said
Ricciardo has described his first months away from the grid as a genuine identity shift — from full-time racer to someone watching the calendar from the outside.
Daniel Ricciardo in an interview with Speedcafe (post-F1 interview coverage)
RB’s mid-2024 decision to promote Liam Lawson signaled the end without a farewell tour: the final races were handed to the new generation.
RB team management, as reported by F1Maximaal (F1 driver-market coverage)
Two sources, one conclusion: Ricciardo’s exit was less about his talent and more about how quickly Formula 1 moves on from aging stars.
The takeaway: Daniel Ricciardo’s Formula 1 career is a case study in how much of a driver’s legacy is actually the car’s. A midfield team weighing a comeback knows the deal: put him in a car that can win, or accept that the results will look like a disaster next to the Red Bull years.
Frequently asked questions
What teams did Daniel Ricciardo drive for in Formula 1?
He drove for HRT (2011), Toro Rosso (2012–2013), Red Bull (2014–2018), Renault (2019–2020), McLaren (2021–2022), and RB/AlphaTauri (2023–2024).
Who was Daniel Ricciardo’s first F1 team?
HRT. He made his debut at the 2011 British Grand Prix before joining Toro Rosso in 2012.
How old is Daniel Ricciardo?
Born on 1 July 1989, he was 35 when his final F1 season ended in 2024.
How tall is Daniel Ricciardo?
Around 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) — tall enough that cockpit fit was a recurring topic during his career.
What is Daniel Ricciardo’s net worth?
Not publicly disclosed. Figures circulating online are estimates, not confirmed facts.
What was Daniel Ricciardo’s last Formula 1 race?
The 2024 Singapore Grand Prix, after which RB replaced him with Liam Lawson for the remaining rounds of the season.
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.