Daniel Ricciardo spent years making Formula 1 look like a place where nothing could wipe the smile off his face. Behind the grin, however, the Australian was fighting a much more painful battle — one that came into sharp focus when Red Bull finally ended his F1 career in 2024.
Two years on, Ricciardo has offered a remarkably candid account of the emotional fallout from his departure, admitting that he initially felt humiliated by the way it ended and struggled with the sense that he had failed to live up to his own expectations.
Yet time away from the sport has also brought an unexpected perspective. While he still dislikes the circumstances of his exit, Ricciardo now believes Red Bull may have made a decision he would have struggled to take himself.
The former race winner reflected on his departure and the life he has built since leaving the paddock during an appearance on Formula 1’s Beyond the Grid podcast.
The decision Ricciardo might never have made
Ricciardo returned to Red Bull’s orbit in 2023 after two difficult seasons at McLaren, initially joining AlphaTauri as a replacement for Nyck de Vries.
The comeback was meant to restore his confidence and potentially put him back in contention for Sergio Perez’s seat alongside Max Verstappen.
That ambition ultimately came to nothing. With only three top-ten finishes from 18 starts in 2024, Ricciardo was dropped after the Singapore Grand Prix as Red Bull sought to assess Liam Lawson as a possible replacement for Perez.
Ricciardo’s final race also brought a bittersweet footnote: he set the fastest lap, the 17th and last of his Grand Prix career.
Looking back, the Australian recognises that his attachment to racing might have kept him in the cockpit long after he had begun questioning whether he wanted to continue.
“The fear I had is, in hindsight and learning how content I am not having that anymore, is that what if they kept extending contracts for me? Would I keep doing it?,” he told F1’s Beyond the Grid podcast.
“Was I ever going to turn the tap off? Because I know I wanted to, I know I wanted to.
“I can tell you right now, in Monaco 2022 after the race, I’m sitting in my apartment talking to my team and I was like, ‘guys, I don’t want to do this anymore. Like, I’m done’.
“And I’ve had these conversations more than once over the years. Silverstone 2015 was another time.
“Sure, you have lows and whatever, but so there’s moments where I’ve wanted to just get away from it but the reality is: would I have?
“Because I think also you have people around you that tell you you’re great, tell you can still do it, and you end up also believing a lot of these voices.
“I know they don’t mean harm, but you don’t really get a chance to have your own thoughts much.
“I think that would have probably just continued, and maybe I’d still be racing, and that’s also a scary thought.
“So I still don’t like how it ended, but there’s also a part of me which is grateful that they pulled the trigger, because I wouldn’t want to be doing it now.”
‘I was just really hiding from what I really felt’
Accepting that the decision may ultimately have been right for him has not erased the pain of how it happened.
For a driver who had spent years competing at the highest level, the abrupt end to his career was more than the loss of a job. It challenged the image he had built of himself and the expectations he had carried since his earliest days in motorsport.
“You start racing at such a young age, and over the years you build, I guess, a ruthlessness, but that also is inward as well,” he said. “You can be very harsh on yourself and expect a lot from yourself.
“So I think, let’s say failing, or that was my view of it – failing. You know, not performing to the level I needed to at the time, or not being able to finish out the season, or whatever.
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“Then you, it’s then a sense of humiliation. Like I failed, and I didn’t do what I once could.
“And yeah, I think trying to deal with that those next few months, it was all just, yeah I understood it as I was just hiding from the humiliation and you know people saw me out in public I was ha ha ha and having a good time and having a drink or whatever and I was just really hiding from what I really felt deep inside, which was a lot of pain and sadness.
“Like shit, it’s gone. I was once this kid that was fighting for or hoping at least to fight for a world title, and obviously winning races or whatever. But now it’s like, oh, it’s gone.”
The contrast between Ricciardo’s familiar public persona and his private struggles was particularly stark.
The laughter and apparent carefree attitude masked the grief of losing a career that had once offered the prospect of a world championship fight.
Finding purpose beyond the paddock
Two years away from Formula 1 have forced Ricciardo to reconsider what success looks like when there are no race weekends, lap times or championship targets to measure his days against.
That transition has not always been comfortable. Without the structure and intensity of professional racing, he has sometimes struggled to identify what gives his life direction.
“Like having a purpose is obviously still very important,” he insisted. “And yes, there’s been many days in the last two years that I’ve woken up without a purpose, and days just tick by, and you’re like, ‘okay, like what am I doing with my life?’
“You feel like a failure, honestly. And it’s very confronting to say to yourself when you look at yourself in the mirror, and you’re like, ‘I’m a failure, I’ve achieved absolutely nothing this week, and days have just ticked by, and it’s like, what am I doing with my life?’
“I’m 30-something and I did so much but there’s still so much more to do and to live.
“So yeah it’s finding a purpose but reminding myself or telling myself that doesn’t have to be some massive mountain I need to climb, it’s just having something each day to wake up and make you feel good about yourself, make you smile and have a task.”
For a driver whose life was once defined by the relentless pursuit of the next result, that may be the most significant change of all. Ricciardo has not rewritten the ending he received in Singapore, nor has he pretended it did not hurt.
But he is learning that life beyond Formula 1 need not be another championship to win, and that moving forward may begin with something as simple as finding a reason to get out of bed each morning.
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