Daniel Ricciardo "grateful" Red Bull called time on his Formula 1 career

An abrupt end to a Formula 1 journey

Daniel Ricciardo has reflected candidly on the conclusion of his Formula 1 career, admitting he is "grateful" that Red Bull ultimately made the decision to end his time on the grid.

Ricciardo first entered F1 with HRT before stepping up to Toro Rosso in 2012. His breakthrough followed in 2014 with promotion to the senior Red Bull team, where he claimed seven victories. Subsequent moves to Renault (2019–20) and McLaren (2021–22) shaped the latter phase of his career, but his second season at McLaren proved especially difficult.

The turning point

Ricciardo struggled to match team mate Lando Norris in 2022, and McLaren opted to part ways at the end of that year, bringing in Oscar Piastri as his replacement. It marked his first spell on the sidelines and triggered a period of deep personal reflection.

“I definitely had to try and understand a lot the last 12 months about the career coming to an end, and it is like timing,” Ricciardo explained on DRIVE with Jim Farley.

“You know you aren’t really going to get it back – once it is gone, it’s gone for the most part. So, ’22 I struggled a lot [in] my second year at McLaren, so they let me go. [In] ’23 I started without a seat and that was like, 'is this maybe it, do I call it now?'”

Despite those doubts, Ricciardo felt there was still unfinished business.

“But I knew there was still some burning desire in me… That’s where I really needed to try and look at myself in the mirror and say ‘okay, forget what the people say. What do you want?’”

A comeback interrupted

Returning to Red Bull as a reserve, Ricciardo earned a mid-season comeback in 2023 with the then-named AlphaTauri squad, replacing Nyck de Vries. However, his momentum was halted when he broke his hand in a practice crash in Zandvoort.

Lawson stepped in for five Grands Prix while Ricciardo recovered, a period the Australian admits added to his internal questioning.

“Second or third race in, I broke my hand and it was such a nothing accident, but I missed however many races. [I] think I was out for 10 weeks or something. I’ve never really hurt myself racing all these years and I have a silly crash and is this a bit of a sign? Should I quit while I’m ahead really?”

Ricciardo returned to the cockpit and retained the seat into 2024, but his final season proved challenging. He scored three top-10 finishes in 18 races, while team mate Yuki Tsunoda recorded seven. As speculation intensified, Red Bull’s decisive approach to driver management once again shaped the outcome.

Acceptance and perspective

“[After the crash] there was still unfinished business so I pushed through it and I lasted another year in F1 and then ultimately got let go,” he said.

Being released twice in a short span took its toll.

“I had put a lot of my soul into it and I did feel pretty exhausted by it. In reflection I was grateful that they made the decision for me. I think it would have been hard to be like ‘I’m done’".

“Not so much for me, I knew it was harder for me to perform at that level… For whatever reason, I lost a little bit of something and it is okay to admit it, it is fine.”

Ricciardo acknowledged that extracting results had become increasingly demanding.

“I knew it was becoming harder for me and I had to dig really deep to pull out a result that I was proud of… Last year, so my retirement year, I gave myself a lot of time to reflect on my career, to be at peace with it.”

He closes his Formula 1 chapter with eight victories — seven for Red Bull and one memorable win at the 2021 Italian Grand Prix with McLaren — across a career defined by both exhilarating highs and a complex, introspective finale.

Following his departure from F1, Ricciardo has taken on a new role as Global Ambassador for the Ford Racing division, confirmed in September last year, marking the beginning of his next chapter beyond the grid.