Daniel Ricciardo: Defining the F1 legacy of the Honey Badger

It is a year since Daniel Ricciardo stepped away from Formula 1 following the 2024 Singapore Grand Prix.

After a career that spanned more than a decade and netted eight race wins, he quietly climbed from the cockpit in Marina Bay without much in the way of fanfare, his career over – even if we didn’t (officially) know it yet.

What is Daniel Ricciardo’s Formula 1 legacy?

It was an emotionally charged weekend for the Australian. On the ground, it was clear that it was his swansong. Nobody could, or would, say as much, but the writing was on the wall.

After the decision was made over the mid-season break to retain Sergio Perez at the senior team, Ricciardo’s place within the organisation was at risk. If he wasn’t going to be promoted alongside Max Verstappen, he was doing little more than occupying a seat that could be used to develop a talent that might one day graduate to the senior squad.

That sad state of affairs is a result of two primary factors; first was the political environment within Red Bull, and where that left Ricciardo within its confused driver development programme this time a year ago. The second was his own inability to deliver results.

There had been flashes of Ricciardo’s early-career form since he returned to Red Bull’s junior team – Mexico City 2023 and the Miami Sprint in 2024 both instantly come to mind – but they had been few and far between. For a driver who had once proved a frequent annoyance to the all-conquering Mercedes operation, it wasn’t enough.

Now, a year on, Ricciardo has all but left F1 behind. He has made precious few public appearances, refused most interview requests (and those he’s done have been a result of endorsements). It was through one such announcement, in conjunction with a new relationship with Ford, that he finally, officially confirmed he had retired from motorsport.

And so now, a year divorced from the emotion that charged that final night in Singapore, we can reflect: what is Daniel Ricciardo’s F1 legacy?

Throughout his career, Ricciardo remained much the same person.

From his earliest days he was jovial, relaxed, a larrikin. Even from his earliest weekends in F1 he possessed an infectious smile and enthusiastic and passionate personality. That began to truly shine through once he’d landed at Toro Rosso – when he was with the back-of-the-grid HRT squad, nobody much bothered him. But the personality was there; he was cheeky, if a little more highly strung, and slightly less relaxed than he became once he’d grown into the sport.

That process began to happen at Toro Rosso. Leaving a media session in Germany I recall a conversation we had as we rose from the table in the Energy Station.

“I’ve just been watching the game out the back, have you seen the score,” he asked, referencing an AFL game involving his beloved West Coast Eagles.

Engrossed in work that weekend, I hadn’t, so I asked admitted, “No, I haven’t. What’s the score?”

“We’re get getting thumped,” he confessed.

At this point, I must admit, I’m not an AFL fan, but maintain an exposure to it as any Australian does.

“Oh, who were you playing?” I enquire.

“Adelaide.”

“You know I’m from Adelaide, right?”

“Well, you can go f**k yourself then,” he declares, with a broad smile and a jovial shove.

Unbeknownst to me, having got up from the table where we’d been speaking as part of the media call, I hadn’t turned off my recorder. More than a decade on, I still have a recording of our off-the-cuff exchange, an audio file that is uniquely Daniel, who famously declared, “athletes sweat.”

It’s far from an isolated exchange; when we crossed paths in the paddock in Singapore in 2023, with a broken wrist following his Zandvoort crash, he used his good hand to give me a quick jab to the arm, in a friendly sort of way. Without braking stride, he walked away giggling to himself while I sported a small bruise for the remainder of the weekend.

That was the Daniel Ricciardo in the paddock. He was fun, friendly, and often unpredictable. He injected something into the paddock that couldn’t be measured.

It is why he shined in ‘Drive to Survive’. His personality there wasn’t especially played up for the camera; that is what Ricciardo is like as a person. Fun, bubbly. There’s a deep side to him, and at times that comes through, but it’s only ever a heart-beat away from a joke.

His personality stood out because it was so starkly different to his contemporaries, who rarely joked and were far more serious in their dealings with the media. Though a different person and personality, Lewis Hamilton has forged a strong connection with his fans because he is his genuine self. And there’s something human about that, something that appeals, and perhaps that explains why Ricciardo amassed such a significant following among the fans. He was fun, unique, and seemingly genuine and honest.

Of course, part of his appeal is his swashbuckling antics on track. At his peak, Ricciardo was uncompromising, deliberately so. He recognised early on that he couldn’t allowed himself to be pushed around, else he’d always be pushed around. He stood up for himself and, in the process, developed a reputation as a hard-nosed racer who was good on the brakes.

His first win might have been inherited when Mercedes struck issues in Canada in 2014, but to capitalise he still had to be the best of the rest. And on that day, he had the measure of his four-time world champion teammate Sebastian Vettel.

By the end of that season, he’d added two more wins and emerged as the best non-Mercedes driver on the grid. From a driver in his first season with a front-running team, it’s a noteworthy result. Given he’d pipped the man who’d just won four titles on the bounce, it also marked Ricciardo out as an exciting young prospect, a potential world champion even.

And perhaps in a different car in a different era he would have been. Ricciardo’s time with Red Bull overlapped both the period of utter domination by Mercedes, and the arrival of Max Verstappen – who will be considered among the very best F1 has ever seen. Against the Dutchman, even being remarkable isn’t good enough.

It is that point which clouds Ricciardo’s legacy. A race winner, probably a title contender given the opportunity, it was something that never played out for him. The timing just wasn’t quite right.

By the time Red Bull was in a position to end Mercedes’s run, Verstappen was established and unlikely to be beaten – not because the team rallied around him so much as he is a prodigious talent the likes of which are seldom seen. Every driver that reaches F1 is incredible, but Verstappen is phenomenal in the same way Lewis Hamilton, Ayrton Senna, and such were.

Ricciardo’s decision to leave Red Bull was therefore understandable. To remain would mean to become, by default, the team’s second driver – it was clear where Verstappen’s talents would take him. To stay was to give up on winning the world champion.

Hence, in leaving Red Bull, there was really nothing to lose. He’d won races, demonstrated his credentials, and in the right circumstance could have led a team to glory. He needed to find a home that was, or could become, what Red Bull had been.

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Was Renault that team? Probably not. But, what other options were there? McLaren was not then the team it is now, and the midfield was further away from the front of the pack than today, too. Of the options available, Renault was the best – plus, it has the support of a car company, so it was well financed and supported, right? In that light, it was a rational move.

In his two years there, and particularly in his second, there were signs of improvement, podiums and improved results, but on the whole it was a two-year slog for little reward. Criticised for his decision to leave Renault before a race had been run in 2020, in hindsight it was a wise; since then, the team has experienced a tumultuous period. And head to head, McLaren looked to have the momentum.

But at McLaren, it just didn’t work. And the honest truth is nobody really understands why. There are theories and suggestions, but nothing definitive, nothing that adequately explains why Ricciardo never recaptured the form he showed at Red Bull. The flashes of speed were few and far between, and soon, self-doubt began creeping in.

His off-track personality hadn’t changed, but on it, he was no longer the same fearsome driver he’d become. Something had changed. Exactly what, only Daniel himself could ever answer, though there’s no guarantee even he can offer a categoric explanation. What is clear though is that, during his time at McLaren, his competitive edge appears to have been blunted. That is no reflection on the team or its efforts to support him, which were substantial, but likely the slow realisation that his career ambition – to become world champion – was never going to happen.

Hence, there are arguably two different Ricciardo’s that raced in F1; the pre-McLaren Daniel, from 2011 until 2020, and then the driver who ultimately left the sport a year ahead of schedule in 2022, and then again following last year’s Singapore Grand Prix. But it somehow feels unfinished. When he walked away from McLaren at the end of 2022 there was a suggestion that, in a different environment, the Australian could be rebuilt. He was outwardly still there; still the same cheeky, larrikin who’d entered the sport in 2011, just now slightly older.

There was a hope Red Bull could rediscover the Ricciardo of his earlier years, and there were hints it could, but they proved to be false dawns. Instead of a glorious conclusion to a career that enjoyed a great deal of success, came a confusing and emotion end in Singapore. We all knew it was the last race, but there was never that formal closure, giving hope that maybe, just maybe, Ricciardo’s smile would return to the F1 grid just one more time.

It won’t happen. Ricciardo has now retired. His career ultimately petered out, perhaps failing to deliver what may feel could or should have. But by the same token, he enjoyed far greater success than most.

Daniel Ricciardo was an above average racing driver, a potential world champion in the right circumstances, but they never materialised during his career. Off track, his effervescent personality endeared him to fans and made him appealing at a time of increased awareness of Formula 1. He played a key role in its growth, becoming an entry point into the sport for a host of fans – many of them American.

Ricciardo’s legacy is therefore vastly greater than his accomplishments on track, or his tally of race wins, or the sorry tale of his career’s finale. What Ricciardo has left behind is a sport in a far stronger position than it was before, not because of anything he did or achieved, simply because he was part of it. Formula 1 today would be far poorer if not for the Honey Badger.

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