As at all times, the Australian Grand Prix in 2006 was an eclectic buffet of fame and energy – with everybody from actress Amanda Bynes to the Dutch Prime Minister, a 70s pop star, and the unique Blue Wiggle treading pit lane.
Unnoticed in a nook, making small speak with Italian driver Jarno Trulli and former Miss Universe Jennifer Hawkins, was none aside from 16-year-old Daniel Ricciardo.
The Perth boy had gained a move to the race – having been topped Australian go-karting champion the yr earlier than – and on that day in April his world shifted.
Household buddy after which mentor Remo Luciani jokes it was assembly Hawkins that did it: “He was virtually drooling.”
However whereas rubbing shoulders with System 1 stars and feeling the rumbling roar of their engines, the shy teen obtained his first actual style of the life he was doggedly chasing.
“I believe he noticed the image – ‘that is the place I belong, that is what I wish to do’,” Luciani tells the BBC.
Quick ahead a number of years and he’d not solely develop into a part of that world, however “a major character” in it.
However after 13 years within the sport – with a powerful 257 races, 32 podiums, and eight wins – his F1 profession got here to an finish final week, after Crimson Bull dropped him from its workforce.
He bows out as some of the profitable and widespread drivers on the circuit and the golden boy of Australian motorsport.
Hungry and gifted
From the second his motorsport-mad father let him on a go-kart monitor as a nine-year-old, Ricciardo has been making an impression.
“There’s those that get it at that age, and those who do not, and he obtained it fairly shortly,” Tiger Kart Membership stalwart John Wishart says.
Ricciardo didn’t blow the competitors out of the water, however he shortly established himself as a quick however truthful rival, with an infectious character and fierce aggressive spirit – a status he’s held on to his whole profession.
“What you see on the TV of Daniel at the moment, he was precisely the identical as a child,” childhood buddy Lewis Shugar tells the BBC.
“He was at all times laughing and having time, and if issues did not go proper for him, he nonetheless had a smile on his face,” Wishart says. “That in itself is a particular expertise.”
As he began to notch up race wins round Western Australia, chatter of his promise unfold to the east coast.
Ricciardo quickly joined Remo Racing – a self-styled growth squad run by Luciani in Victoria.
“He was a really, very fast learner, and he was decided. He needed to at all times go quicker. I might see the starvation in him,” says Luciani – himself a karting legend and Australian Motorsport Corridor of Fame inductee.
Ricciardo gained his first race with the workforce in 2005 and went on to take out the nationwide go-karting championship that yr, whereas additionally racing System Ford vehicles in his house state.
And with that, he was on his approach abroad – a “huge transfer” that Ricciardo has stated “modified every thing”.
Every passing yr introduced a brand new step up the ladder. In 2006 he raced in Asia, earlier than transferring to Italy the yr after, then signing to the Crimson Bull growth programme as a “shy” and “immature” 18-year-old in 2008.
“Having that accountability, that stress, all of that, it pressured me to develop up,” he informed CNN Sport earlier this month.
In 2011 he made his long-awaited grand prix debut at Silverstone, on mortgage to Spanish workforce HRT, thrilling his supporters again house.
One described him as beating one-in-10-million odds.
“Simply to take a seat in an F1 automobile is one thing that hardly anyone will ever do – so even simply to have that chance is unimaginable,” Shugar says.
The Honey Badger
However Ricciardo wasn’t happy with simply any spot on the grid, and by 2014 he’d earned a name as much as the primary Crimson Bull workforce, changing fellow countryman Mark Webber.
“I’m prepared,” Ricciardo declared on the time: “I am not right here to run round in tenth place.”
True to his phrase, he gained three races that yr, outperforming teammate and defending champion Sebastian Vettel.
Over his 4 years at Crimson Bull, he turned generally known as the Honey Badger – for the affable manner which belied his killer racing instincts.
“His trademark was these terrific late-braking strikes that might catch drivers abruptly,” Australian F1 journalist Michael Lamonato informed the BBC.
“He at all times stated he needed the form of status that meant he can be feared when one other driver would see him of their mirrors, and I believe he actually achieved that.”
On the similar time, his recognition off the monitor was hovering, even earlier than the hit Netflix sequence Drive to Survive took F1 to new ranges of acclaim.
“Daniel was one of many characters that was starting to transcend the game,” Lamonato says.
His signature shoey celebration – which is credited with popularising the practice in Australia – memeable media sound bites and humorous stunts have enamoured him to legions the world over.
“He looks like a mate, somebody you possibly can make buddies with on the pub,” Melbourne fan Issy Futcher says.
“He is made for this sort of stardom.”
The top of his profession got here with a gutsy win in Monaco in 2018, when he defended his lead for 50 laps whereas battling a failing engine, two years after a botched pit cease on the similar circuit noticed victory slip by means of his fingers.
“This was a redemption race… it truly is his defining win,” Lamonato says.
However after ill-fated strikes to Renault in 2019 and McLaren in 2021, the place he struggled to copy his earlier success, he was left floundering in 2023 and returned to the broader Crimson Bull fold as a reserve driver.
He re-joined the beginning line-up in its junior workforce – now referred to as RB – midway by means of the season although was quickly derailed by a damaged wrist and his type by no means recovered all through 2024.
Rumours started to flow into and when the Singapore Grand Prix rolled round on 22 September, the writing was on the wall. In a single final hurrah, Ricciardo was given a recent set of tyres and set the quickest lap of the race.
After ending final, the 35-year-old lingered within the cockpit for a beat.
In a teary post-race interview, Ricciardo stated he was battling plenty of feelings.
“I’m conscious it may very well be it,” he stated. “I simply needed to savour the second.”
He had solely needed to return to the grid if he might get podiums and so was “at peace” along with his impending destiny, he informed Sky Sports activities.
Days later, Crimson Bull confirmed he can be replaced for the rest of the season by young Kiwi Liam Lawson – information that stirred outrage and cries of mistreatment.
Crew boss Christian Horner stated Ricciardo’s statistics and accolades weren’t the one measure of his success.
“From the second you arrived at Crimson Bull it was apparent you had been a lot greater than only a driver. Your fixed enthusiasm, sense of humour and angle will depart an indelible legacy,” he stated.
Amid a wave of tributes from his friends, Ricciardo stated it had been a “wild and great” journey.
“I’ve cherished this sport my complete life… It’ll at all times have its highs and lows, however it’s been enjoyable and reality be informed I wouldn’t change it,” he wrote on Instagram.
“Till the subsequent journey.”
Legacy secured
Whereas particulars of that subsequent journey are hotly anticipated, Lamonato says Ricciardo has already cemented himself as some of the underrated F1 drivers.
“The easiest way to sum up Daniel Ricciardo is a driver of immense potential who suffered what so many do, and that’s profession fallacious turns.”
His lengthy profession is close to unmatched – solely 9 drivers have began extra races – and his wins and podiums each put him within the prime 40 drivers of all time, notably spectacular when factoring in that each one had been achieved with out racing for the dominant workforce of the day.
And his legacy is already stamped at house in Australia – the place karting figures say he’s impressed each a rise in grassroots participation and the subsequent wave of Australian racing stars like Oscar Piastri and Jack Doohan.
Statistically, Ricciardo would be the fourth most profitable of Australia’s F1 stars, however many suppose he’ll be remembered as the most important.
“I do not suppose anybody can have had an impact much like him when it comes to bringing the game house to the viewers,” Lamonato says.
“[He] did Australia proud,” Luciani concludes.