Daniel Ricciardo has revealed he felt “humiliation” at the manner in which his Formula 1 career ended, and has spent time adjusting to his post-racing life.
Ricciardo raced in Formula 1 between 2014 and 2022, taking eight race victories for Red Bull and McLaren, before returning mid-2023 with AlphaTauri.
Ricciardo attempted to stake his claim for a return to Red Bull but was instead axed two-thirds of the way through the 2024 campaign.
His final event took place in Singapore, just over two years ago, when it was common knowledge that he would be replaced by Liam Lawson, though official confirmation only came the next week.
Ricciardo has not raced since in any category, later confirming his retirement, though remains loosely affiliated to motorsport through his role as a Ford ambassador.
In a wide-ranging interview with Formula 1’s official Beyond The Grid podcast, Ricciardo opened up about his career, and his post-racing life.
“There’s been certain phases, or stages, in the last two years that I’ve… yeah… adapted or understood, coped, all these things,” Ricciardo said.
“The first phase, straight after Singapore, was still trying to stay… you know, tall and strong, if you will, and a coping mechanism or defense mechanism or trying to outwardly project ‘I’m fine and it’s all good,’ kind of… ultimately hiding from a feeling of humiliation.
“That was the first phase of just thinking everything was okay but I was very hurt inside.”
“You start racing at such a young age, and over the years you build like… a ruthlessness, but that also is inward as well.”
He added that he “went through a phase of some sadness and growth and rebuilding and then coming out of it now and feeling a sense of relief as well—okay, there’s things in the past I loved, and why I did it for so long, and things I’m happy to let go of. Normal things that are beautiful, more time with family, and rebuilding a lot of friendships that may have drifted.”
Ricciardo admitted that during his later years he had to “dig very deep to find something, whereas before it was easy, it was just there,” and has since accepted that Red Bull ending his career in 2024 was the right thing for him.
Jayce Illman//Getty Images
Daniel Ricciardo at the Grand Prix of Singapore in 2024.
When pressed on using the term “humiliation” to describe his axing, said: “That’s how you become a bit wired…
“You’ve done it your whole life, my F1 career was 13 years, I had a career before that, you’re trying to make a career. You start racing at such a young age, and over the years you build like… a ruthlessness, but that also is inward as well. You know, you can be very harsh on yourself and expect a lot from yourself.
“I think that my view of it was, [I was] failing, not performing to the level I needed to at the time or not being able to finish out the season or whatever, it’s then a sense of humiliation, like I failed and I didn’t do what I once could. Trying to deal with that, those next few months let’s say, I understood it as I was just hiding from the humiliation.
“If 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. You know, ****, it’s gone, I was once this kid that was hoping at least to fight for a world title and obviously winning races or whatever, but now it’s like, oh it’s gone.”
U.K.-based Phillip Horton started covering Grands Prix while still at university and swiftly deemed that writing about Formula 1 and the behind-the-scenes machinations was much more engaging than reading centuries-old novels. Degree gained, he went on to cover the sport full-time from 2014 and is as intrigued and excited by the destinations Formula 1 visits during its lengthy annual world tour as the racing itself. Phillip joined Autoweek in 2021 and while he has just about learned to spell in American English he has yet to find anywhere in America that makes a proper cup of tea.