When I was first getting into Formula 1, I used to have a lot of fun driving as Daniel Ricciardo on both F1 2013 and F1 Race Stars (now that’s a blast from the past)! As the years progressed, Daniel positioned himself as one of my favourite drivers, if not the favourite, and I continued to use him a lot in whatever I did that was relating to F1! I actually have a picture on my wall of Daniel Ricciardo’s debut F1 weekend when he drove for Hispania Racing at the 2011 British Grand Prix, which is actually pretty cool when you think about it! Now, it’s been a rollercoaster ride for Danny Ric, it hasn’t always gone to plan, especially in recent years, but you can’t deny the impact he’s had on the sport, whether that’s for the newer fans who watched him be himself in Drive to Survive, or the people that got to watch him win Races for Red Bull! So, with that in mind, I thought it would be nice to go down memory lane and give a little tribute to The Honey Badger!
Maiden Win – Canada 2014
Round 7 of the 2014 Formula 1 Season took place around the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve for the Canadian Grand Prix as Daniel Ricciardo came into the weekend 4th in the Championship! It was Nico Rosberg who took Pole for Mercedes whilst Ricciardo qualified P6, just narrowly behind the two Williams cars and teammate Sebastian Vettel. However, things in the Race went a lot better for Daniel as he found himself up to P3 after the pit stops, and towards the end of the Race, it became a five-car fight for the win! With not many laps to go, Danny Ric dispatched the Force India of Sergio Perez for P2 before he cleared Nico Rosberg on Lap 68 (of 70) to take his maiden Grand Prix victory to the delight of Red Bull and their supporters!
Crucial to Me – Hungary 2014
I very much credit the 2014 Hungarian Grand Prix as the Race that properly got me hooked for the sport! Daniel Ricciardo started this one from P4, again closely behind the Williams of Valtteri Bottas as Nico Rosberg once again found himself on Pole! Now, a fortunate Safety Car timing allowed Daniel to take the restart from P1, but a couple more pit stops meant he had to overtake for the win! Now, Ricciardo managed to catch up to the back of the front 2 (Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton), but as we all know, the Hungaroring is an incredibly difficult place to overtake so it wasn’t guaranteed that Daniel would take victory. However, on Lap 67, Danny Ric was able to go round the outside of Hamilton to take second place before just a lap later, Ricciardo sent one on Alonso to take the lead and ultimately secure his second-ever victory (and the crazy thing about that is he did it on Lap 68 of 70 both times)! Oh, and it’s also worth mentioning that Danny went back-to-back as he won the next Race in Belgium too!
Still Their Guy – Malaysia 2016
2016 was arguably the most dominant year in Mercedes’ run of Championships, they were miles clear of the rest, and they headed into Round 16 of the 2016 Season in Malaysia having won 14 of 15 so far that season! The one Race they didn’t win of course was famously won by Max Verstappen, and that’s important to mention given Championship Standing wise, Daniel Ricciardo was a long way clear of Max! In Qualifying, Red Bull managed to lock out the second row with Max edging out Daniel, but it’s worth mentioning that they were both around 6 tenths off Pole! Now, the start of the Race helped Red Bull’s cause as Sebastian Vettel wiped out Nico Rosberg which ultimately took both guys out of the fight (even though Rosberg did still end up making it back to the Podium)! The Race then looked to be fully in the hands of Lewis Hamilton, but an engine blow-up ultimately cost him both the win and indeed the Championship! This meant that Red Bull were running in a 1-2 position, and we were treated to a great fight between Ricciardo and Verstappen! The fact that Daniel ended up winning this fight and taking the victory was a big deal for him because he deserved a win after the season he had, and this was an example of despite how promising Max was looking, Danny Ric was still Red Bull’s guy!
From Back to Front – Baku 2017
The 2017 Azerbaijan Grand Prix is my all-time favourite Race, and if you haven’t ever watched it, I would fully recommend doing that before F1 comes back properly at COTA! Now, Daniel Ricciardo was on good form heading into this weekend, finishing P3 in each of the last 3 Races, but Qualifying did not go to plan as the Australian ended up slowest in Q3! Things then got worse early in the Race as debris found it’s way into the brakes of Ricciardo’s Red Bull, and this resulted in Daniel making a pit stop which saw him come out all the way down in P17! However, with issues for teammate Max Verstappen, Valtteri Bottas, Kimi Raikkonen, and the two Force India’s coming together, Danny Ric found himself back up in P5 come the restart! On said restart, Ricciardo pulled off one of the most sensational overtakes to dispatch Nico Hulkenberg and the two Williams cars (of Felipe Massa and Lance Stroll), and after both Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel were forced to enter the pits (Lewis with a headrest issue, Seb with a penalty), Daniel Ricciardo went on to take his 5th-Career victory in what was a crazy afternoon in Baku!
Last of the Late Breakers – China 2018
At the start of 2018, it felt like Red Bull were clearly the third-fastest team on the Grid, with Ferrari setting the early pace, and Mercedes looking less comfortable than in previous years. That was very true in Qualifying for the 2018 Chinese Grand Prix as RB locked out the third-row of the Grid with Verstappen ahead of Ricciardo! This actually proved crucial during the Race as after an incident between the Toro Rosso duo of Pierre Gasly and Brendon Hartley, a Safety Car was called out. Now, due to Max and Daniel having less to lose because their car performance was slower compared to the top two teams, both men dived into the pits to put on a set of Soft compound tyres and it meant that the two were 4th and 6th when the Race got back underway. Now, this Race was in Max Verstappen’s hands, but Max didn’t capitalise well at all, and multiple incidents led to Daniel moving ahead of his teammate. Now, Danny Ric was still very much in his prime at this point, and it showed as Ricciardo pulled off some sensational overtakes on the likes of Raikkonen, Hamilton, and Bottas to take what was his best victory to date!
Denying a Record – Mexico 2018
Whilst Daniel Ricciardo is very much known for his late breaking prowess and smiley personality, not enough people talk about his 1-lap pace, and Daniel’s Pole in Mexico back in 2018 is probably his greatest ever lap! For a bit of context, it had already been confirmed a while back that Daniel Ricciardo would be leaving Red Bull for Renault at the end of the season, and this was Round 19 of 21. There was also an awful lot of focus surrounding Max Verstappen, as Red Bull were pretty open about The Dutchman becoming the youngest-ever Pole sitter in Formula 1 history. Now, this was fair enough as Max had already broken the records for being the youngest winner, youngest points scorer, youngest Podium finisher, and so on! Now, there were two more rounds after Mexico for Max to break the record, but given how well the Red Bull suited the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, they all kind of knew that this was their best shot of Verstappen breaking that record! Now, Ricciardo was trailing Verstappen through both Q1 and Q2, and it felt like it was all set up for Red Bull’s dream to come true. After the first runs in Q3, Max was P1 whilst Daniel was down in P4, a quarter of a second off his teammate! However, in what was a sensational turn around, Danny Ric managed to find enough time to stun everyone and pip his young teammate by just 26 thousandths of a second! Max Verstappen was clearly furious about this, I mean he literally knocked over the P2 bollard which tells you everything you need to know, but for Daniel Ricciardo, you could tell how special this moment was for him!
Back on the Podium – Eifel 2020
For the first year at Renault, things didn’t quite click for Daniel Ricciardo as despite driving well, multiple issues and a lack of performance compared to the big teams resulted in The Aussie finishing 9th in the Standings with a P4 finish in Monza being his best result of the season! However, 2020 was a much different story as Daniel made it into Q3 most weeks and ended up finishing inside the points in 14 of the 17 Races! Now I firmly believe that Ricciardo was absolutely brilliant this season, he was easily in the Top 4 Drivers of the Season, and he drove arguably just as well as he did in his best days at Red Bull! However, out of his two Podiums in that season, his return to the Podium at the 2020 Eifel Grand Prix was definetly his best! Now, Daniel managed P6 in Qualifying, just ahead of his teammate Esteban Ocon, but you did feel like Ricciardo was faster than that! And that proved true as Daniel quickly made his way up to P4 before an issue for Valtteri Bottas’ Mercedes left a spot on the Podium open! Now, it was looking pretty comfortable for the Renault man, but an issue for Lando Norris resulted in a Safety Car coming out meaning Ricciardo’s nice cushion had gone! However, Danny Ric did well to keep Sergio Perez’s Racing Point behind to take what was his first Podium finish for 47 Races! Also, I recommend going back and watching some of Daniel’s drives from this 2020 Season as I think it’s fair to say that this was his last great year in the sport!
“I Never Left” – Monza 2021
2021, the most infamous and arguably greatest season in Formula 1 history! We had a Title fight at the front between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen, but for Max’s old teammate, things weren’t quite going to plan for Daniel Ricciardo in his first season with McLaren. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t terrible as Ricciardo still managed five Top 6 finishes heading into Round 14, but he was being out-performed by the up-and-coming star known as Lando Norris. Now, the 2021 Italian Grand Prix was also playing host to the second-ever “Sprint Weekend”, and this meant that Qualifying took place on Friday to set the Grid for the Sprint which set up the Grid for the main Race on the Sunday. Qualifying went well for McLaren as they took 4th and 5th, with Lando just 6 thousandths of a second ahead of Daniel! To be honest, this Sprint was particually dull as none of the top positions changed after the opening lap. However, McLaren weren’t complaining as Ricciardo took home a point for a P3 finish whilst Norris stayed in 4th. Also, with a Grid drop for Valtteri Bottas for the Grand Prix, it meant Danny Ric would be starting on the front row alongside his old buddy Max Verstappen! Now the start went perfectly for Daniel as he got ahead of Max into Turn 1 before he was able to manage the gap for the opening stint. Ricciardo was still in a net P1 after he made his pit stop, and this is when the famous Turn 1 incident happened between Title Rivals as Verstappen’s Red Bull landed on top of Hamilton’s Mercedes! On the restart, Daniel held his nerve to remain in the lead before he brought it home for the last of his 8 Grand Prix Victories! The thing that’s so special about this win for Daniel Ricciardo isn’t that it came as a surprise, or that it was a nice moment after a tricky start in Papaya, it’s the fact that this was fully earnt, and that Danny Ric was winning this Race before Max and Lewis’ incident! A special win, no doubt about it!
One Last American Hurrah – Miami 2024
When Daniel Ricciardo made his return to Formula 1 last year with AlphaTauri, it didn’t exactly go smooth sailing for The Honey Badger, even though he did do pretty damn well in Mexico City (P4 in Quali, finished P7)! It’s also kind of known that Danny Ric is the fan favourite when we get to the American Races, and given he won’t be competing in either Texas or Las Vegas, Miami proved to be Ricciardo’s last weekend stateside (not including Canada). And my gosh, did Ricciardo deliver, particually in the Sprint Format! See, the start of this season saw the Top 4 (and 5 including Aston Martin) teams miles clear of the midfield! However, Daniel didn’t seem to care about that as he managed to Qualify P4 in what was a sensational effort! However, 1-lap pace is very different to Race pace so it was widely expected that Ricciardo would drop, and honestly a point from the Sprint would be a great result! However, Daniel once again had other plans as he held off the charging Ferrari of Carlos Sainz to finish the Sprint in exactly the same place he started! Whilst a P4 in a Sprint might not seem like a massive deal for Daniel Ricciardo, these were important points for Visa Cash App RB, and this was definetly one of the best performances of anyone this season!
Redemption – Monaco 2018
You didn’t seriously think I’d forget about this one did you?! Out of all of his 8 Race Wins in Formula 1, Monaco 2018 is probably Daniel Ricciardo’s best, or at least his most satisfying victory! For context, Daniel took Pole in Monaco in 2016, and he did everything right to win that Race. Unfortunately for DR, his team weren’t ready for him when he came into the pits, and it ultimately meant Ricciardo lost the victory to Lewis Hamilton! Now 2 years later and Daniel dominated Qualifying, setting the fastest time in all 3 sessions, and given the characteristics of Monaco, this should’ve been a straight-forward victory for the Aussie! However, like all Daniel Ricciardo victories, it definetly wasn’t without a challenge! Everything was going smoothly, with Ricciardo keeping the lead into Turn 1, but an MGU-K failure meant Daniel had to guide his ailing Red Bull around the streets of Monte Carlo for another 50 laps! The fortunate thing for Danny Ric was that despite having a lack of power, track position is so vital at Monaco that it’s practically impossible to pass. However, Ricciardo still had to keep his nerve and attention fully as the Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel was right on his gearbox, but of course, that’s exactly what he did as Danny Ric took redemption for what was his 7th Grand Prix victory! I honestly love this win, and I think it’s because I find it poetic. See, Daniel Ricciardo has been known his whole career as the “last of the late breakers”, or someone that’s relentless in his pursuit of overtaking other cars. However, on that specific Sunday in Monaco, it wasn’t overtaking that won Ricciardo the Race, it was his ability to keep cool and push through even when things were difficult!
Note: Firstly, I want to say thank you to anyone who’s read this article, I spent a lot of time on it so I really appreciate it! And secondly, Thank You Daniel!
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