Best moments of Daniel Ricciardo’s F1 career including first pole, podium, win and more

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Daniel Ricciardo may have raced his last Grand Prix after being dropped by Visa Cash App RB, so F1 Oversteer takes a look at the best moments of his career in Formula 1.

The Australian’s beaming smile has lit the paddock up for the past 13 years but if or when it returns remains to be seen. Red Bull have decided to bench Ricciardo for at least the rest of the 2024 Formula 1 season to judge what Liam Lawson can produce with Visa Cash App RB.

Lawson is replacing Ricciardo at RB for the final six rounds of this season as Red Bull remain undecided if the New Zealander is the right partner for Yuki Tsunoda at their sister team. If he fails to thrive, Ricciardo may return to Faenza in 2025 and try again to return to Red Bull.

It was whilst at Red Bull that Ricciardo enjoyed many of the best moments of his Formula 1 career, too. He broke into the pinnacle of motorsport as a Red Bull junior in 2011 and made the move to the main team in 2014, before going on to spend time at Renault and McLaren.

Ricciardo debuted in Formula 1 with HRT in what would be the Spanish squad’s penultimate year on the grid. He only enjoyed a bit-part term for HRT before joining Toro Rosso for 2012 and 2013, Red Bull up to 2018, Renault until 2020, McLaren to 2022 and AlphaTauri in 2023.

So, with the Perth native moving away from the grid, F1 Oversteer has taken a look into the best moments of Ricciardo’s Formula 1 career – with highlights on and even off the circuit…

When did Daniel Ricciardo make his Formula 1 debut?

Delivering as a member of the Red Bull Junior Team from 2008 to 2011 saw Ricciardo make his Formula 1 debut at the 2011 British Grand Prix after securing a drive at HRT for the rest of the season. Ricciardo replaced Narain Karthikeyan at the Spanish squad from round nine.

HRT were a perennial backmarker over their troubled time in Formula 1 and locked out the back row of the grid at Silverstone. Ricciardo also qualified last with P24 at the 2011 British GP, posting a 1:38.059 lap in Q1 which was 0.575 seconds from teammate Vitantonio Liuzzi.

Ricciardo would even finish the 2011 British Grand Prix last among the classified finishers in P19 with Liuzzi in P18. The Australian was also lapped three times by race winner Fernando Alonso, who lapped Liuzzi twice. The Ferrari racer did not lap any other drivers three times.

Daniel Ricciardo scored his first points in Formula 1 at the 2012 Australian Grand Prix

Returning to Toro Rosso in 2012 – having previously tested for Red Bull’s junior team – saw Ricciardo score his first points in Formula 1 on home soil at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix. The Perth native finished P9 in Melbourne to have two points beside his name.

Toro Rosso had seen Ricciardo out-qualify teammate Jean-Eric Vergne after reaching Q3 at the Frenchman’s expense, as well. His race then hit an early blip when contact with Bruno Senna of Williams forced Ricciardo to pit at the end of the first lap to get a new front wing.

READ MORE: Daniel Ricciardo’s life outside of Formula 1 from net worth to girlfriend

Ricciardo recovered from falling to the back of the field to move into contention for points entering the closing stages of the 2011 Australian Grand Prix. A mistake from Vergne then handed Paul di Resta and Ricciardo a chance to fight over the final points-paying positions.

When did Daniel Ricciardo take his first pole position in Formula 1?

Qualifying has seldom been where Ricciardo thrives the most in Formula 1 cars and only has three pole positions to his name. Each of his pole positions also came during the Australian’s time at Red Bull, with a maiden P1 start in 2016 and two further pole positions during 2018.

Ricciardo scored his first pole position in Formula 1 at the 2016 Monaco Grand Prix, denying Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg P1 on Monte Carlo’s narrow streets. He posted a 1:13.622 lap time in Q3, but did not convert it into the race win as Ricciardo was left to rue Red Bull’s strategy.

Rain drenched Monte Carlo ahead of the race but Ricciardo controlled the field through the opening exchanges. Yet he lost the lead after stopping to swap the full wet for intermediate tyres, whereas Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes stayed out on full wets until slicks were viable.

The intermediate tyres allowed Ricciardo to close Hamilton down and was running nose-to-tail when the Briton peeled in for slick rubber. It was then Ricciardo’s chance to pounce, but Red Bull did not have the tyres ready when the Australian then pitted for slicks one lap later.

The team’s mistake ensured Hamilton was able to stay ahead Ricciardo in the pit stop phase and lead the 2016 Monaco GP. The Mercedes legend would go on to win by 7.252s, as well, with Ricciardo visibly irritate whilst he stood on the podium to claim the trophy for second.

Daniel Ricciardo took his first podium finish in Formula 1 at the 2014 Spanish Grand Prix

Ricciardo has stood on the podium 32 times over his Formula 1 career with 29 for Red Bull, two for Renault and one for McLaren. His first podium was back at the 2014 Spanish Grand Prix when Ricciardo finished in third place during his fifth race after stepping up to Red Bull.

Mercedes were in a league of their own in 2014 after acing the introduction of F1’s 1.6L V6 turbo-hybrid power unit. Their engine saw Hamilton beat his teammate Rosberg by 0.636s at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, with Ricciardo the best of the rest but 49.014s back.

Valtteri Bottas initially moved ahead of Ricciardo at the start of the 2016 Spanish GP to put his Williams in third place. Ricciardo also fell back early on after Red Bull urged him against putting undue stress through his tyres. But he took the position back through the pit stops.

Daniel Ricciardo won his first Formula 1 race at the 2014 Canadian Grand Prix

Fortune played a part in the matter but Ricciardo won his first race in Formula 1 at the 2014 Canadian Grand Prix when disaster struck for Mercedes in Montreal. The Australian took full advantage of Hamilton and Rosberg both having brake problems to win from P6 on the grid.

Mercedes recorded a huge advantage in qualifying to lock out the front row of the grid with Rosberg and Hamilton the only drivers to lap in the 1:14s come Q3. Sebastian Vettel, Bottas and Felipe Massa then pipped Ricciardo for P3 to P6 with just 0.041 seconds between them.

Bottas and Massa benefitting from the Mercedes power unit also meant Ricciardo struggled to overtake with the Renault engine in his Red Bull inferior down the straights. Sergio Perez also made his way through Ricciardo after extending the life of the Force India driver’s tyres.

But the face of the race changed after Mercedes hit issues with Hamilton’s brakes failing on Lap 47 of 70. Rosberg also became a target for the Williams pair of Bottas and Massa, Perez and Ricciardo – who moved into the box seat with five laps left after passing Perez at Turn 1.

It was then the lead of the race at the close of Lap 68 as Rosberg could not defend into T12 as Ricciardo breezed around the German’s outside. The Australian would ultimately take his first win in F1 by 4.236s to Rosberg, with Vettel joining teammate Ricciardo on the podium.

Where did Daniel Ricciardo take his best win in Formula 1?

While the 2014 Canadian Grand Prix saw Ricciardo score his first win in Formula 1, the 2018 Monaco Grand Prix and the 2021 Italian Grand Prix proved to be two of his best wins. It was pain in the Principality for the Perth native in 2016 but Ricciardo put that in his past in 2018.

Ricciardo produced arguably the best race of his Formula 1 career to win the Monaco Grand Prix in 2018, when even pole position seemed like it would not be enough once again. Vettel was unable to deny his old Red Bull teammate pole position with the Ferrari pilot 0.229s off.

The Red Bull racer was dominant during qualifying to lead in Q1, Q2 and Q3 – when also the only driver to dip into the 1:10s. But his dream day darkened on Lap 28 when Ricciardo first reported a loss of power and faced a further 50 laps defending without his MGU-K working.

Losing the MGU-K meant Ricciardo had 25% less horsepower available to him and even lost the use of two gears. But the Australian refused to be beaten and utilised the narrow roads to keep Vettel behind, eventually winning by 7.336 seconds as Vettel also lost time in traffic.

But redemption in the Principality at the 2018 Monaco Grand Prix would be Ricciardo’s final of seven wins for Red Bull. He also did not win another race until the 2021 Italian Grand Prix at Monza when Ricciardo secured McLaren’s first victory since the 2012 Brazilian Grand Prix.

Ricciardo started the 2021 Italian GP from second place after moving up from P5 to P3 in the Sprint, which set the grid that season. A great launch off the line also saw Ricciardo overtake Max Verstappen into T1 and he continued to keep the Red Bull racer behind in the first stint.

A slow pit stop for Verstappen also moved the Dutchman behind Lando Norris and Hamilton after their pit stops. But he refused to yield the spot to Hamilton as the Mercedes driver hit the circuit directly in front, lifting off the brakes and sending his Red Bull around the outside.

Verstappen’s refusal to yield meant he rode the sausage kerb, while the contact between his front-right tyre and Hamilton’s rear-left flicked the Dutchman’s Red Bull onto the Halo of the Briton’s Mercedes. The safety car gifted Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc a cheap pit stop to get P2.

Norris made light work of passing Leclerc come the restart and was soon on McLaren’s radio offering to work as Ricciardo’s wingman rather than fight his teammate for the race win. The decision paid off as McLaren registered a one-two as Ricciardo led Norris home by 1.747s.

Daniel Ricciardo introduced the shoey to F1 at the 2016 German Grand Prix

Ricciardo is a much-loved driver among the Formula 1 fanbase in part to his larger-than-life personality and introducing the shoey to the pinnacle of motorsport on the podium for the 2016 German Grand Prix. Drinking out of a shoe is popular in Australia to celebrate events.

He was by far not the first athlete to perform a shoey but Ricciardo was the first Formula 1 driver to at Hockenheim. He ended the German GP in second to Mercedes driver Hamilton by 6.996 seconds after starting in third place and set the fastest lap of the race for Red Bull.

Ricciardo would do a shoey multiple times through his Formula 1 career, including sharing it with compatriot Mark Webber after his P2 in the 2016 Belgian Grand Prix. He also shared a shoey with Verstappen, Rosberg and team boss Christian Horner at the 2016 Malaysian GP.

Other individuals to share a shoey with Ricciardo include actors Gerard Butler at the 2016 United States Grand Prix and Patrick Stewart at the 2017 Canadian Grand Prix. Lance Stroll also celebrated his first F1 podium at the 2017 Azerbaijan Grand Prix by sharing his shoey.

But while Martin Brundle shared his shoey at the 2017 Austrian Grand Prix, fellow podium finishers Vettel and Bottas declined Ricciardo’s offer. He also forgot to do a shoey after the 2020 Eifel Grand Prix when Ricciardo secured his first of two podium finishes with Renault.

Daniel Ricciardo drove Dale Earnhardt’s 1984 NASCAR Cup car

Ricciardo delivering McLaren’s first Grand Prix win in nine years saw CEO Zak Brown give the Australian a chance to drive a 1984 NASCAR Cup car his hero, Dale Earnhardt, raced. He is a lifelong fan of the seven-time champion and took #3 as Ricciardo’s F1 race number after his.

Brown bought the Chevrolet Monte-Carlo that Earnhardt drove for Richard Childress Racing three years prior. He then agreed with Ricciardo that he could do a demonstration run in it once the Australian took his maiden podium with the Woking squad, which came at Monza.

Ricciardo drove Earnhardt’s Chevrolet at the Circuit of the Americas ahead of the FP3 for the 2021 United States Grand Prix. Earnhardt won two races in the car in 1984 in his first season back at Richard Childress Racing, with wins at Talladega and at the Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Daniel Ricciardo rode a horse into the 2022 United States Grand Prix paddock

McLaren announced that Ricciardo would leave the team at the finish of the 2022 F1 season that August to make way for compatriot Oscar Piastri to join. It seemed like it could also be the end of his Grand Prix career after initially failing to get another seat on the grid for 2023.

So, Ricciardo – well known for his appreciation of American culture and the Texas Longhorns college football team – arrived in the paddock for his pre-event press duties before the 2022 United States GP riding a horse. He even wore a Stetson hat and a Stars-and-Stripes jacket.

Country singer Rob Baird even walked beside Ricciardo singing his hit, Dreams and Gasoline. It all left Ricciardo ‘a little embarrassed’ when he initially arrived at COTA riding the horse he called Horsey McHorse, having not known its name was Blue when applying for credentials.