‘It terrifies me’ – Daniel Ricciardo addresses potential racing return after emotional F1 exit
Daniel Ricciardo has kept his distance since leaving F1 in 2024
Former Red Bull and McLaren driver Daniel Ricciardo has opened up on his emotional F1 exit in 2024, admitting that the prospect of a return to motorsport “terrifies me.”
Ricciardo remains one of the most recognisable F1 drivers of the modern era having claimed eight victories in 257 grand prix starts between 2011 and 2024.
Daniel Ricciardo opens up on emotional F1 departure
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The Australian driver made his final appearance at the 2024 Singapore Grand Prix before being replaced by Liam Lawson at the Racing Bulls team for the final six races of that season.
After keeping his distance from the sport for almost 12 months, Ricciardo announced his retirement from motor racing last September, becoming an ambassador for Ford, Red Bull’s F1 2026 engine partner, in the process.
Ricciardo attended Ford’s season-launch event in January in Detroit, where he was reunited with former Red Bull teammate and four-time world champion Max Verstappen, who has adopted the Australian’s former race number – three – for F1 2026.
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In an interview with The Athletic ahead of this weekend’s Chinese Grand Prix – a race won by Ricciardo in 2018 – the 36-year-old has opened up on the emotions surrounding his F1 departure two years ago.
And he has admitted that the thought of returning to his previous lifestyle leaves him “terrified.”
Ricciardo said: “I was always pretty good at putting on a brave face and letting people know that I was good and happy and everything’s fine.
“But when everything quieted down and the lights were turned off, I was like: ‘OK, I need to do some soul searching and make sure that I’m good with all this.’
“Jumping back into something as well and having another distraction was not going to help me figure out who I was.
“[It] took me a while to figure it out after racing probably who I was and what maybe my purpose was beyond just being a race car driver, so I’d say I’m much closer to being comfortable with that.
“I sit here just more relaxed and the thought of going back into a chaotic sort of lifestyle terrifies me, to be honest.”
Ricciardo’s final F1 victory occurred at the 2021 Italian Grand Prix at Monza, where he secured McLaren’s first win in nine years by leading home a one-two finish ahead of Lando Norris.
However, the Perth-born driver’s stint at McLaren to an early end at the conclusion of the following season when he was replaced by Oscar Piastri.
After spending the first half of 2023 as Red Bull’s reserve driver, Ricciardo returned to a race seat with sister outfit Racing Bulls at that year’s Hungarian Grand Prix.
Having struggled to make an impression alongside Yuki Tsunoda, though, he was dropped by the team in the closing months of the 2024 season.
Ricciardo’s final F1 appearance took place under a cloud of uncertainty in Singapore, with it already an open secret that he would be replaced by Lawson for the last few races of 2024.
Racing Bulls did not officially confirm Ricciardo’s departure until four days after the race.
Ricciardo has admitted that he struggled after his F1 career came to a sudden end, yet conceded that it felt like “the right time” to leave.
He said: “When you wake up with really one purpose for so many years, even if it feels like the right time, necessarily, it doesn’t really change the fact that: ‘Oh, it’s gone, and what do I do now?’
“So much of my life was events and trackside and there’s always a camera around.
“There’s always people and I have to put on always a smile and have to be careful what I say and this and that.
“I tried to, obviously, always come across authentic and as myself, but it’s impossible to be 100 per cent that when there is just always eyes on you.
“I would say probably my biggest takeaway from last year is the importance of alone time, because I realised that my life was always surrounded by people and chaos, so to speak, that I kind of lost my own thoughts and ideas.
“I never really had a chance to probably make a decision on my own and I would easily get convinced that something’s the right thing to do, or this or that, because I always have kind of voices around me.
“Alone time, I think, for everyone is important.
“It also just makes you see: ‘OK, where am I at with life? What am I chasing? Is that the right thing to be chasing? What do I want? What do I value?’
“You can’t really ever ask yourself those questions if you’re constantly surrounded by groups of people and everything’s like, fun, fun, fun.
“That’s not also real life, which I’ve started to realise.”
Ricciardo’s activities with Ford has seen him promote the US manufacturer’s Raptor T1+ truck, used in competition in off-road events like the Dakar Rally.
As reported by PlanetF1.com at the time, he teased a potential appearance at the Baja 1000 event after sampling the car in a promotional event last year.
He said: “The itch for Baja is there, but I’ve got a lot to learn.
“A few more of these events and then ask me next year and we’ll see where I’m at!”
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