Daniel Ricciardo has enjoyed the highest of highs in F1, but he has also fallen to the lowest of lows – admitting 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 podiums, making him one of the sport’s top competitors.
But these results have become difficult to obtain in recent years, with podiums drying up during stints with Renault from 2019 to 2020 and a difficult partnership with McLaren from 2021 to 2022.
When Ricciardo parted ways with McLaren, he had no team to turn to and found himself facing a major crossroads in his career.
When his former teammate Sebastian Vettel received his retirement, Ricciardo was at his lowest.
“Seb got the big goodbye that he completely deserved, but I didn’t know at that stage whether 2022 was the end or not for me too,” Ricciardo said. Age.
“At that point, it wasn’t something I was too interested in, mainly because I didn’t like how my career ended if that was the case.”
Ricciardo admitted he reached a career crossroads with McLaren in 2022 and began to fall out of love with the sport.
The Australian had a good start to his career in F1, but was quickly faced with a harsh reality with his failures at Renault and Mclaren.
Uncertainty began to weigh on Ricciardo. Publicly he flashed his trademark smile and said he was not concerned about the future, but as the poor results with McLaren piled up, his love of the sport bled away.
“From mid-2022, when I had virtually no work and I didn’t know what I was going to do, I almost wanted the races to end, I wanted the season to be over,” he admitted.
“I struggled to be very present at that time. I had to fight to truly enjoy my work.
“Coming back last year, I found that I wasn’t thinking about anything else because I was really happy doing what I was doing.
“I was in love with sport, driving and competing again. In 2022, I struggled with it and just wanted it to end.
To get his mojo back, Ricciardo had to return to his roots and spend a lot of time on his family farm in Perth, Western Australia.
Ricciardo (pictured recently with Australian cricket star Marcus Stoinis) enjoys returning home to Western Australia where he can regain his focus and drive
It was there that he managed to rid himself of the “clutter” in his life, refocus and prepare for his return to Red Bull’s sister team, AlphaTauri – now renamed RB.
“It had a lasting impact. I got my energy and enthusiasm back by putting a few things aside, clearing out a lot of clutter,” Ricciardo said of his time at home.
“I wanted to be able to fall in love with training again, but to train and train well, you have to take time out of your life to do it properly.
“You can’t do a million other things, because you don’t have a window to train, and so maybe you’re not as strong or as healthy or as fresh as you should being, and it takes a spiral.”
“I wanted to get that feeling back, to bring out my old self. Running and training are my priorities right now, and everything else is secondary.
Ricciardo comes to the Australian F1 Grand Prix enjoying the benefits that experience brings – but he is struggling mightily with his pace.
Although it has been a slow start to the season, Ricciardo is hoping to put in a big performance at his home Grand Prix in Melbourne.
Re-energized, Ricciardo entered the Australian F1 Grand Prix driving an upgraded RB vehicle in hopes of finishing his career with the main Red Bull team.
Although the results are yet to come in, with finishes of 13th and 16th so far this season, he has adopted a new way of thinking that he believes will take him far in the twilight of his career.
“I’ve been in F1 for a long time, I’ve driven a lot of cars and I’ve seen a lot of things. My knowledge… I probably underestimated that,” he said.
“The team was struggling a bit at the time and I could see that my experience was helping them. The way the team responded to what I had to say, the questions they asked… I really appreciated that aspect.
“You realize with age that you have the power to change the atmosphere in a garage, the way a team reacts.
“There are hundreds of people who work with these teams, but you are one of two people the world is watching to see how the team performs.
“We’re not just driving the car, we have the ability to change the atmosphere of the room and that’s something I’m definitely more aware of.”