Daniel Ricciardo

Daniel Joseph Ricciardo grew up in Perth, son of Italian-Australian parents, karting from age nine before climbing the junior ladder - Formula Renault 2.0 WEC in 2008, British F3 in 2009, a two-point miss at the Formula Renault 3.5 title. Red Bull brought him into F1 in 2011 mid-season with HRT, then gave him two years at Toro Rosso before the promotion in 2014 to partner Sebastian Vettel. He won three races that first year and finished third in the championship, then took wins in Monaco and Malaysia in 2016, Baku in 2017, China and Monaco again in 2018. He left Red Bull for Renault in 2019, moved to McLaren in 2021 for one memorable win at Monza, then exited after 2022 when the form dried up. A reserve year at Red Bull in 2023 turned into a mid-season call-up at AlphaTauri, but after Singapore 2024 he was replaced by Liam Lawson. He retired in 2025 and took a role as global ambassador for Ford Racing, closing a career that delivered 32 podiums and a Member of the Order of Australia, but never the title shot the early years promised.