Daniel Ricciardo’s Formula 1 career threatened to come to an end after his premature retirement from McLaren – but today the Australian sees the time out as mainly positive
With his trademark smile, Ricciardo is undoubtedly one of the most popular drivers in Formula 1. But with the loss of his regular seat at McLaren in 2022, the Australian’s career was suddenly on the brink of collapse
The premature termination of his driver contract led him on a path of self-reflection and ultimately to fall in love with Formula 1 again. Speaking to Motorsport.com, the 34-year-old explains how the time out gave him a new perspective on his career and his life.
“When you go through something, it can obviously change you a bit and give you a different perspective. You appreciate the good times more or understand how to deal with the bad ones. If you’ve been down, you might realize what’s important to you and what’s not,” he says.
“I think you learn a lot about yourself through all these things. Once I got past that, I realized that I still love this and believe in myself.”
The rekindling of his love for Formula 1 and his regained confidence have helped Ricciardo to look at his life and career in a different way and become the best version of himself.
To do this, the Australian has also had to work on his image in the paddock and be taken more seriously, without getting lost in details as he did during his time at McLaren. “I don’t want to carry the weight of the world on my shoulders, because it should still be fun. But yes, I’m getting stuck in,” he explains.
Hand injury in Zandvoort a setback
“I will try to be the best version of myself. But I don’t want it to consume me so much that I can’t enjoy other aspects of my life, because that’s just not right. And that’s not the way I’ve always approached racing.”
Just two races into his mid-season Formula 1 return with AlphaTauri, the Australian suffered another setback when he broke his hand in what he described as a “pretty miserable crash” at Zandvoort.
“I felt hungry and motivated again – just like before – and I loved it. The fact that this happened took the wind out of my sails temporarily,” he admits.
But Ricciardo didn’t let it get him down: “I just tried to think ahead about how I could get better as quickly as possible. And I refused to let the hard work I’ve put in all year to get this far again go to waste because of an injury.”
He celebrated his injury comeback in Austin. After arriving in the paddock on a horse in 2022, he toned down his appearance in the paddock this time – partly, but not exclusively, because of the hand injury, as he says.
“I don’t want to make too many jokes or fool around. I still have so much to do and I just want to be seen as someone who is hungry and motivated and not just here to be here,” explains the AlphaTauri pilot.
Ricciardo admits: “I needed this time out “
Looking back, Ricciardo even sees his early departure from McLaren as a positive, because it forced him to reconnect with himself on a deeper level and turn the negative into something positive. “As unpleasant as the situation at McLaren was, it was a blessing in disguise,” he emphasizes.
“They terminated my contract because I needed some time off to find myself again, find my love again and also get the hunger back.”
“I think there were a lot of elements that were a bit battered, like my drive and motivation. I just needed to find that again and the time off gave me that,” says Ricciardo. The Formula 1 break also helped him to pursue his interests outside of motorsport.
“I wanted to make sure I was still able to have other hobbies and interests in life. It gave me the feeling that sport isn’t everything. I also wanted to make sure I had other passions and interests and not be afraid of that if I retired one day.”
“So part of it was to explore a little bit what keeps me going and makes me smile,” says Ricciardo, admitting: “There were definitely moments when I just wanted to be alone and indulge in my own thoughts, to understand what crossroads I was at in life.”
“And the feeling inside me sometimes was: ‘I don’t want to race again’. But I knew I needed time to let it sink in and understand what my heart really wanted. In the end, I felt that I was getting that answer more and more. “