Daniel Ricciardo has issued a frank reflection on the circumstances that led to his retirement from Formula 1, saying he was “grateful” to Red Bull for taking the decision out of his hands.
The Australian’s career in F1 came to an abrupt end in 2024, losing his drive with Racing Bulls after the Singapore Grand Prix, and was replaced by Kiwi Liam Lawson.
Ricciardo had been handed the seat with the Faenza-based squad a year previously, taking the place of the struggling Nyck de Vries, after rejoining Red Bull as a third driver.
It was a full circle moment in the likeable Honey Badger’s career, having left Red Bull in 2018 to join Renault, before moving onto McLaren, which was a move that ultimately failed, despite taking victory at Monza in 2021.
Ricciardo was unable to consistently match the pace of teammate Yuki Tsunoda, which saw Lawson – who had replaced Ricciardo for a handful of races the year before due to injury – take his place.
Speaking on the DRIVE podcast, hosted by Ford CEO Jim Farley, Ricciardo delved into the details of the situation, revealing ‘exhaustion’ at his dwindling form.
“Ultimately, I got let go,” he said. “That was the reality at the time.
“I think once that happened, I’d been let go twice in the last two years, and it had also taken a lot out of me.
“I’d put a lot of my soul into it. I was pretty exhausted by it.
“In reflection, I was grateful that they made the decision for me. I think it would have been hard to be like, ‘I’m done.’
“I think I knew I was probably done because I knew it was harder for me to perform at the level I could.
“For whatever reason, I lost a little bit of something, and it’s okay to admit it.”
Daniel Ricciardo reveals ‘reflection’ that led to acceptance with F1 retirement
The end of Ricciardo’s career was an emotional moment, with cameras picking up a moment in which he spent in the cockpit in parc ferme, aware this would be the last time he would sit in the cockpit of an F1 car.
“There’s people that love you and will still tell you that you’re great and you can do it, but as much as you love them as well, you need to just close the door and make that decision on your own and be really honest with yourself,” he explained.
“If I would have got to the end of last year, I think I would have still had a lot of these thoughts and had had the conversation with myself, because I knew it was becoming harder for me, and I had to dig really deep to pull out a result that I was proud of.
“You always want to believe everyone’s looking out for you, and they probably still are, but they don’t know what it’s like to be you and in your situation.
“Last year, my retirement year, I gave myself a lot of time to just reflect on my career and to be at peace with it.”
Ricciardo now acts as an ambassador to Ford, which is in the first year of its powertrain alliance with Red Bull. With F1 now far different than how it was in his career, one wonders how the Honey Badger would view it from a driver’s perspective.
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