How Daniel Ricciardo went from F1's best driver to sacked twice

Daniel Ricciardo's Formula 1 career ended in mediocrity. But the driver he was during his swan song with RB, and his two at-times-painful seasons with McLaren, isn't the Ricciardo who will be celebrated in the annals of F1 history.

He may have bowed out as an also-ran, but in his pomp Ricciardo was outstanding. There were even occasions - two seasons, in fact - where you can make a compelling case that he was the best-performing driver in F1.

That might come as a surprise to those who witnessed him only in recent years, when there's been no more than very occasional glimpses of the Ricciardo of old and results have been patchy. But forget the driver who finished in the points only 11 times in his last 50 grands prix; Ricciardo was something else in his glory years.

00:00 Introduction
00:58 Road to the top
02:07 2014: The first great year
05:00 2016: The second great year
07:49 2021: The struggles begin
10:59 Ricciardo's legacy

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#f1 #formula1 #f12024 #ricciardo #danielricciardo #redbull #f1news #redbullracing #redbullf1 #renault #renaultf1 #mclaren #mclarenf1

[cbrown]

Daniel's F1 career reminds me a bit of Jean Alesi. Very popular, so much promise and started so well, but you only saw flashes of his brilliance as his career fizzled out with every team move. What could have been.

[rossrreyes]

1:07 LOOK at that little kid behind Daniel

[JamesGavin-ju]

I actually think the 2020 season was his best tbh. He was absolutely fantastic in his Renault that year, scoring two podiums and a bunch of other great results (not to mention consistently great race pace) in spite of that teams issues to finish 5th in the championship.

After that season, his career completely fell apart and he was never the same again outside of Monza 2021.

[SyBo]

What I find the most heartbraking about his path is that you can't really see any wrong decision in his career choices. He left Red Bull, because he felt it was too early to settle for a support act and he left Renault, because he thaught McLaren had more potential to rise up, which he couldn't have been more correct about in hindsight.
All in all he did everything correctly to ensure himself the best chance of succes, it just didn't work out that way.

[SiVlog]

Ed Straw summed up Ricciardo best in the video about drivers who joined teams as they slumped, referring to his 2014 season where he trounced Sebastian Vettel.

"(...) while Vettel floundered, Ricciardo starred. He built his reputation for epic race day charges, and outrageous overtaking, and snatched 3 unlikely wins. It was an extraordinary performance, but if he had produced that kind of form in any of the previous 4 Red Bulls, he'd have been World Champion, rather than a very distant third in the points, "

[robertcarr]

Gee i almost forgot how hideous those 2014 cars were

[DebraGallagher-qx]

He was still phenomenal in 2020, how did it go so down hill after

[carguy]

He had a good career. Watching racing for a long time has taught me that champions are not only fast but adaptable, consistent, and mentally strong. Watching from the outside it seems that Daniel's adaptability had limits that prevented him from being a "great". He still had a career to be proud of though.

[huplim]

Hope to see Danny back in another race series.
What a talent and personality.

Hope to see him smiling again.

[flamingburritto]

1:07 if you go back in time and tell people that that little kid behind Daniel will be the one who causes Daniel to make a career ruining move while kid becomes a 3x world champion, people would've called you crazy.
In an alternate timeline Daniel never left redbull and him and max became the fiercest driver pairing in F1 history.

[billmcdonald]

He was the late-braker of late-brakers. Boy could be in another time zone and make it to the apex ahead of you. Sublime.

[alk]

Saying Ricciardo was the "obvious" best driver in 2014 and Hamilton made "heavy weather" of the title is just revisionist history. Lewis had a reliability DNF in race 1, then won 4 straight, then Rosberg had his controversial Monaco GP win, then Lewis had reliability issues in Canada, Germany and Hungary, then was crashed into by Rosberg in Spa, then won the last 6 out of 7 races. Ricciardo was FANTASTIC in 2014 but just as you gave him the benefit of the doubt in 2015 with poor reliability you can't then say he was "obviously" better than Hamilton in 2014 when Lewis would've walked the title with better reliability.

[videoaccount]

He was never "F1's best driver" just very good at one time.

[HabitualLine-Stepper]

Ricciardo gave up his RB15 because of Verstappen, but it could be worse.

Because of Verstappen, Daniil Kyvat lost his RB12, then his girlfriend and his kid.

[BenediktWindisch]

Its such a shame but He made the wrong decisions at the wrong time with leaving RedBull for Renault. Id love to see him longer but the drivers which started at the beginning of the 2010s like Bottas or Perez all seem to fall apart and behind the Leclercs, Norris, Piastris and Verstappens of today

While Perez already got his shot at a frontrunner Team, I think Riccardo and Bottas derserve another shot at a frontrunner Team. But the new stars like Piastri, Colapinto, Lwasons deserve a shot as well of course. 12 Teams like 2010 could solve these problems. There are too much great talent from "past", present and future who should BE in F1

[NicolasMignan]

You say Ricciardos last few years isn't the Ricciardo you'll be celebrating, yet the last few years of Vettels career is all you remember of it 😂

[Pyrope]

Good drivers get slow, 'twas ever thus. The recent archetype of this is probably Jean Alesi, but you could also point to Rene Arnoux, Nelson Piquet Sr., Seb Vettel, Rubens Barrichello, David Coulthard, Michele Alboreto, and many, many more, who were all dynamite in their early years but faded significantly once they got into their thirties.

[ragemydream]

Ricciardo career: Sporadic. If he wasn't scared of getting beat and then chasing after money, he might actually been a great driver but it was good at best.

[ninety_ldn]

Its only since he lost his F1 seat that i have heard anyone ever say he was the best driver on the grid at some point. Literally as soon as Verstappen was in F1 he was better than DR.

[carobahena]

He got what he deserved

Plus millions and fame.