Daniel Ricciardo

Daniel Joseph Ricciardo (born 1st July, 1989 in Perth, Australia) is an Australian Formula One driver. He is best known for winning the Formula One World Driver's Championship on his debut season in 2015 for McLaren.

Formula One

2015: McLaren

Ricciardo made his F1 debut in 2015, driving for Marlboro McLaren Hyundai in the British team's final season. Ricciardo had been drafted by Peugeot in the Young Driver's Draft the year before, but he made the jump to McLaren once Sebastian Vettel and Sergio Perez had vacated the team.

Ricciardo had to wait until the fourth round in Mexico before he took his first Grand Prix wins, his first two of eleven in 2015. Ricciardo would be embroiled in a battle with his teammate Robert Kubica as well as Fernando Alonso and Nico Rosberg of Williams for driver's honours - but it would be Ricciardo who triumphed in the end.

2016: DISA DGNgineering

With McLaren's withdrawal at the end of 2015, defending champion Ricciardo made the switch to the DISA DGNgineering squad alongside his 2015 teammate Kubica. Neither Ricciardo or Kubica were able to get a win all year - and Ricciardo finished his sophomore season in sixteenth place.

2017: Mahindra

2017 saw Ricciardo join Indian minnows Mahindra, racing with young American Conor Daly. 2017 was much more of an improvement, with Ricciardo coming second on four occasions. Ricciardo finished the year in ninth place.

2018-2019: Calinetic

Ricciardo joined his fourth team in as many years in 2018, signing a two year contract with Jamaican outfit Calinetic. Ricciardo's first season with Calinetic would bring two further podiums on his way to eleventh place in the championship.

2019 would be a severe drop in performance, with only a three points scores all year - finishing in 25th place in the standings. At the end of the season Ricciardo opted to take a sabbatical from Formula One.

Formula 5000

2019-20

At the end of the 2019 Formula One season, Ricciardo opted to join Oceania's premier open wheel series for the close of the 2019-20 Formula 5000 season. Ricciardo made his debut at the Macau round with the Horan Racing Nissan team, taking a sixth place in the opener. Ricciardo's next appearances came at the Jangka-Mardarni Motorsport Complex where he took a hattrick of wins to much fanfare in the Australian motorsport press.

NASCAR

2021: 23XI Racing

In 2021, Ricciardo announced a move into NASCAR with 23XI Racing, the team co-owned by basketball legend Michael Jordan and fellow Cup Series driver Denny Hamlin.

Personal Life

Ricciardo is of Italian descent - his father Giuseppe moved to Australia from Sicily at a young age. Giuseppe also partakes in amateur motor races and was a major inspiration for Daniel to begin racing.

Ricciardo resides in Monaco during the European season and in Perth, Western Australia when in Oceania.

Sporting Accolades
Preceded by: James James Davies	Formula One World Champion 2015	Succeeded by: Lewis Hamilton