{"id":6942,"date":"2025-10-16T17:04:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-16T17:04:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/6942\/"},"modified":"2025-10-16T17:04:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-16T17:04:07","slug":"daniel-ricciardo-makes-shock-austin-appearance-ahead-of-united-states-grand-prix","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/6942\/","title":{"rendered":"Daniel Ricciardo makes shock Austin appearance ahead of United States Grand Prix"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Former Red Bull and McLaren driver Daniel Ricciardo has made a surprise appearance in Austin, Texas, ahead of this weekend\u2019s United States Grand Prix.<\/p>\n<p>Ricciardo remains one of the most recognisable F1 drivers of the modern era having claimed eight grand prix victories in 257 starts between 2011 and 2024.<\/p>\n<p>Daniel Ricciardo spotted in Austin, Texas, ahead of United States Grand Prix<\/p>\n<p>The Australian made his final appearance for Red Bull sister team Racing Bulls in Singapore more than a year ago before being replaced by Liam Lawson for the final six rounds of last season.<\/p>\n<p>Ricciardo has kept his distance from motor racing over the last 12 months and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.planetf1.com\/news\/daniel-ricciardo-f1-retirement-ford-role-confirmed\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">officially announced his retirement from the sport<\/a> last month, taking a new role as global racing ambassador of US manufacturer Ford in the process.<\/p>\n<p>Ford will become Red Bull\u2019s new engine partner next season, working in conjunction with the team\u2019s newly established Powertrains division under the new F1 2026 rules.<\/p>\n<p>What happened to Daniel Ricciardo?<\/p>\n<p>\ud83d\udc49\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.planetf1.com\/features\/what-happened-daniel-ricciardo-f1-decline-theory\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">What happened to Daniel Ricciardo? The compelling theories to explain his sharp F1 decline<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\ud83d\udc49\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.planetf1.com\/news\/daniel-ricciardo-defining-the-f1-legacy-of-the-honey-badger\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Daniel Ricciardo: Defining the F1 legacy of the Honey Badger<\/a><\/p>\n<p>As <a href=\"https:\/\/www.planetf1.com\/news\/daniel-ricciardo-returns-f1-2025-paddock-secret-visit-helmut-marko\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">reported at the time by PlanetF1.com<\/a>, Ricciardo was in Melbourne for the season-opening Australian Grand Prix in March.<\/p>\n<p>And the 36-year-old has been spotted in Austin, Texas, ahead of this weekend\u2019s race at the Circuit of the Americas.<\/p>\n<p>Ricciardo has been pictured at a pop-up store for Enchante, the lifestyle brand founded by the former F1 star.<\/p>\n<p>    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"ps-lazy-img size-medium wp-image-900656\" width=\"1600\" height=\"900\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/daniel-ricciardo-f1-2025-united-states-grand-prix-austin-texas-410x424.png\" alt=\"Daniel Ricciardo handling clothing at an Enchance pop-up store in Austin, Texas\"  \/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-900656\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/daniel-ricciardo-f1-2025-united-states-grand-prix-austin-texas-410x424.png\" alt=\"Daniel Ricciardo handling clothing at an Enchance pop-up store in Austin, Texas\" width=\"1600\" height=\"900\"  \/><\/p>\n<p> Credit: Daniel Ricciardo Official Fan Group (Facebook)<\/p>\n<p>It is unclear at this stage if Ricciardo will make an appearance during the United States Grand Prix, an event where he twice finished on the podium with Red Bull in 2014 and 2016.<\/p>\n<p>Ricciardo\u2019s visit to Austin comes two months after he lifted the lid on his time away from F1 in his first public appearance since being dropped by Racing Bulls.<\/p>\n<p>Appearing at Ray White\u2019s Connect conference on Australia\u2019s Gold Coast in August, Ricciardo revealed that he has spent the last 12 months \u201ctrying to figure out who I am other than this race car driver.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Asked how life has changed since his F1 exit, a bearded Ricciardo said: \u201cWell, I haven\u2019t been shaving my face! The beard is my comfort right now.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis year has been a bit of self-exploration. I lived this crazy high-speed life for so long and this year I\u2019ve sat into a little bit of stillness.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve had a lot of time. I\u2019ve done some hiking. I was in Alaska a few weeks ago and didn\u2019t get mauled by a grizzly [bear], which was a bonus.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve been trying to figure out who I am other than this race car driver.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve come to appreciate the little thing more and the meaning of the importance of family and friends.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve always been driven and that sometimes leads you to being selfish, so I\u2019m trying to learn to be a bit more selfless and become a better listener.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Additional reporting by Mat Coch<\/p>\n<p>Read next:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.planetf1.com\/news\/christian-horner-zak-brown-mohammed-ben-sulayem-dinner-date\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Christian Horner and Zak Brown meet for diplomatic dinner with Mohammed Ben Sulayem<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former Red Bull and McLaren driver Daniel Ricciardo has made a surprise appearance in Austin, Texas, ahead of&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6943,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133,6859,6858,223],"class_list":["post-6942","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-austin","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-news","tag-daniel-ricciardo","tag-home-page","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6942","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6942"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6942\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6943"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6942"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6942"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6942"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}