30 Astonishing Facts About Daniel Ricciardo You Probably Didn’t Know

Daniel Ricciardo, with his late-braking and intensely crazy overtaking maneuvers, is certainly one of the most outgoing and effusive drivers on the F1 grid. True to his nickname Dan Dare, this exceptional racer, even after being in this death-defying sport for over a decade, is high as ever. Here are some interesting facts about the Italian-Australian racing driver that every fan must know:

"Daniel Ricciardo after his run at CNR 2013" by Nazly is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

1.  He was born as Daniel Joseph Ricciardo on 1 July 1989 in Perth, Australia, to Italian father Giuseppe Joe Ricciardo and Australian mother Grace.
2.  He is nicknamed “Honey Badger” with reference to his racing style. The animal looks cute and cuddly but it is the most fearless animal in the animal kingdom.
3.  Ricciardo is a big fan of Dale Earnhardt, NASCAR Racer, and in his honor; he adopted the number 3 as his racing number.
4.  He pronounces his surname as “Ricardo” instead of “Ritchiardo” as in Italy, because of the way it was pronounced in Australia during his younger years.
5.  He first started racing at the age of 9 as a member of Tiger Kart Club in Perth, Western Australia.
6.  Driving a 15 year old Van Diemen, he entered Western Australian Formula Ford Championship in 2005 and finished 8th at the end of the season.
7.  In 2006, he entered Formula BMW Asian Championship with a scholarship with Eurasia Motorsport. In the debut season he finished 3rd in the Driver’s Championship with 231 points that included 2 victories and 1 pole position.
8.  His first experience behind the Formula One wheel was when he participated in the young driver test for Red Bull Racing team in 2009. The test was conducted for 3 days and on the final day he clocked the fastest by over a second.
9.  He made his Formula One Grand Prix debut in 2011 when he was contracted to Hispania Racing Team by Red Bull Racing. His debut race was 2011 British Grand Prix at Silverstone.
10.  He earned his first World Championship points in 2012, racing for the team Scuderia Toro Rosso in the Australian Grand Prix. He finished 9th by overtaking his teammate in the last lap and winning 2 points.

"No.3 / Daniel Ricciardo / Infiniti Red Bull Racing" by kariya is licensed under CC BY 2.0

11.  He likes partying and has a collection of Party shirts with bright and colorful patterns and could be seen wearing one most of the time. He also like plain black T-shirt but seldom wears it.
12.  He always carries a personal journal with him and has been carrying one for 18 months as of October 2020. He writes down anything relating to his racing or his thoughts about his life.
13.  He replaced Red Bull’s fellow Australian Mark Webber for the Australian Grand Prix in 2014 season opener partnering 4 time world champion Sebastian Vettel. He dominated Vettel for the first part of that season.
14.  He carries a 15 years old 80gb iPod that has around 5k to 6k songs in it. He bought it when he started his journey as race car driver in Europe.
15.  He won his first podium finish in 2014 in Australia in his debut race where he started second in pole behind Lewis Hamilton and finished second. However he was disqualified due to technical violation in his car.
16.  He also has a custom made Beats Headphone that looks similar to his racing helmet with number 3 printed on it. Just before racing he puts it on to get away from the world and prepare for his race.
17.  He is a big fan of Baie 19 Le Labo perfume and carries it around all the time.
18.  His first victory came in Canadian Grand Prix in 2014 breaking the chain of 6 victories by Mercedes in that season. He became the fourth Australian to win in Canada.
19.  He won “Laureus World Sports Award for Breakthrough of the Year” for his performance in his debut year for Red Bull in 2014.
20.  He considers that the neck muscles are one of the most important parts of the racers body as it undergoes extreme G-force during racing. Hence he carries a travel pillow to protect his neck muscles during hotel stay around the world.

"Daniel Ricciardo" by pdbreen is licensed under CC BY 2.0

21.  During an episode of Top Gear in 2015 he recorded the fastest lap with time of 1:42.2 beating the previous record holder Lewis Hamilton in the “Star in a Reasonably Priced Car” feature.
22.  He carries a GOPRO with him as he travels around the world and captures every destination he travels. In his childhood he always carried a camera and loved to capture anything from the things he blew up to stunts in his BMX bikes.
23.  He was gifted a patterned yellow Medipop facemask, by a British friend which goes well with his printed party shirts. He once jokingly said that the mask looks more like an erotic Lingerie that a facemask.
24.  During his podium celebration in Germany in 2016 where he finished second, he drank the champagne from his shoe and named the celebration “shoey”. He repeated the same celebration in Hungarian Grand Prix and also persuaded his interviewer (former teammate) Mark Webber to drink from the shoe too.
25.  He signed a 2 year contract to drive of Renault partnering Nico Hulkenberg. With 5 retirements and a disqualification he ended the season at 9th place with 54 championship points ahead of his teammate.
26.  One of his most prized possessions is his light grey race car helmet with his number 3 printed on it. It also has his nickname “Honey Badger” logo printed on the back of it. He unveiled a new helmet for his 2021 season with his new team McLaren.
27.  He started 6th at the 2020 Eifel Grand Prix and went on to finish third, first podium for his team Renault since 2011 Malaysian Grand Prix and his first since Monaco Grand Prix in 2018.
28.  He joined McLaren for the 2021 season partnering Lando Norris. Before joining McLaren he had contacted Ferrari for Sebastian Vettel’s seat but they signed a multi-year deal with Carlos Sainz Jr.
29.  In Oct 2019 he settled a pound 10 million legal dispute with his former adviser Glenn Beavis. According to Beavis, Ricciardo owed monies as commission during his transfer from Red Bull to Renault.
30.  He was disgusted with the Formula 1 executives for excessive use of F1 crashes on TV and during various promotional videos leading to the race. One in particular was the crash of Romain Grosjean in Baharain Grand Prix in 2020 where the car crashed into a metal barrier, split into half and erupted into flame. The driver escaped with burns to his hands.
31.  Daniel Ricciardo Net Worth: $50 Million