Daniel Ricciardo has experienced the highest highs in F1 racing, but he has also fallen to the lowest lows. He admitted ahead of the Australian F1 Grand Prix that his struggles robbed him of his passion for the sport.
Throughout his career, Ricciardo has achieved eight Grand Prix victories and 32 podium finishes, making him one of the sport’s better competitors.
But those results have become difficult in recent years, with podium finishes drying up during stints at Renault from 2019-2020 and a troubled partnership with McLaren from 2021-2022.
When Ricciardo parted ways with McLaren, he had no team to go to and faced a major crossroads in his career.
When former teammate Sebastian Vettel was forced into retirement, Ricciardo was at an incredibly low ebb.
“Seb got the big farewell he fully deserved, but I didn’t know at that moment whether 2022 was the end for me too,” said Ricciardo. The age.
“At the time it wasn’t something I was too concerned about, mainly because I didn’t like the way my career had ended, if that’s what it was.”
Ricciardo admitted he was at a crossroads in his career at McLaren in 2022 and was starting to lose his love for the sport
The Australian had a strong start to his F1 career, but was soon confronted with the harsh reality with his failed move to Renault and McLaren
The uncertainty started to weigh on Ricciardo. In public he flashed his trademark smile and said he was not worried about the future, but as bad results with McLaren piled up, his love for the sport bled away.
“From the middle of 2022, when I basically had no job and wasn’t sure what I was going to do, I almost wished the races were over and I wanted the season to be over,” he admitted.
‘I found it difficult to be very present at that time. I had to fight to really enjoy my work.
‘When I came back last year I found myself thinking about nothing else because I was really happy with what I was doing.
‘I fell in love with the sport again, with driving and participating. In 2022 I struggled with that and wanted it to be over.’
To find his mojo, Ricciardo had to return to his roots and spend a lot of time on his family farm in Perth, Western Australia.
Ricciardo (recently pictured with Australian cricket star Marcus Stoinis) is keen to return to Western Australia where he can rediscover his focus and drive
There he managed to get rid of the ‘clutter’ in his life, refocus and prepare for his comeback with Red Bull’s sister team AlphaTauri – now renamed RB.
‘It has had a long-lasting impact. I got my energy and my excitement back by putting a few things aside, which took away a lot of clutter,” Ricciardo said of his time at home.
‘I wanted to fall in love with training again, but in order to train and train well, you have to get some time back in your life to do that properly.
“You can’t do a million other things because you don’t have time to train, and then you might not be as strong or healthy or fresh as you should be, and then it spirals.”
‘I wanted to get that feeling back, to bring out the old me. Racing and training are my priorities right now, and everything else is secondary.”
Ricciardo enters the Australian F1 Grand Prix enjoying the benefits that experience brings, but struggles badly with his pace
Although it has been a slow start to the season, Ricciardo will be hoping for a big performance at his home Grand Prix in Melbourne
Ricciardo heads into the Australian F1 Grand Prix with new energy, driving an upgraded RB vehicle, hoping to finish his career with the main Red Bull team.
Although the results are not yet in, with 13th and 16th places so far this season, he has adopted a new mindset that he believes will take him a long way in the twilight of his career.
‘I have been in F1 for a long time, driven a lot of cars, seen a lot of things. My knowledge… I probably underestimated that,” he said.
‘The team was struggling a bit at the time and I saw that my experience helped. The way the team responded to what I had to say, the questions they asked… I really started to enjoy that aspect of it.
‘As you get older you realize you have the power to change how a garage feels, how a team reacts.
“There are hundreds of people who work with these teams, but you are one of two people the world looks to to see how the team is performing.
‘We don’t just drive a car, we have the ability to change the atmosphere in the room and I’m definitely more aware of that.’