Daniel Ricciardo facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Daniel Ricciardo
Quick facts for kidsDaniel Ricciardo
	Ricciardo in 2009
Nationality	Australian
Born	1 July 1989 (age 31); Perth, Australia
Formula Renault 3.5 Series career
Debut season	2009
Current team	Tech 1 Racing
Car no.	8
Starts	19
Wins	4
Poles	8
Fastest laps	5
Best finish	2nd in 2010
Previous series
2005; 2006; 2006; 2007; 2007–08; 2008; 2008; 2009	Western Australian Formula Ford; Formula BMW UK; Formula BMW Asia; Italian Formula Renault Italy; Formula Renault Eurocup; Formula Renault WEC; Formula Three Euroseries; British Formula Three
Championship titles
2008; 2009	Formula Renault 2.0 WEC; British Formula Three

Daniel Ricciardo (born 1 July 1989 in Perth, Western Australia) is an Australian racing driver. He won the British Formula Three Championship in 2009. He currently races in the Formula Renault 3.5 Series. He is also the test driver for both the Red Bull Racing and the Scuderia Toro Rosso Formula One teams.

Career

Formula Ford and Formula BMW

Ricciardo started karting at the age of nine. In 2005, he entered the Western Australian Formula Ford championship. He drove a 15-year-old Van Diemen, and finished eighth by season's end.

The next year, he won a scholarship to the Formula BMW Asian championship with Eurasia Motorsport. During his first season, Ricciardo earned a pole position and won twice. He finished third in the Drivers' Championship with 231 points, 59 points behind the champion.

In August 2006, Ricciardo entered one race in the Formula BMW UK series. He finished eighth in the second race and took three championship points. At the end of the year, he entered the Formula BMW World Final Fortec Motorsport. He finished in fifth position, fourteen seconds behind the winner.

Formula Renault

2007 saw the Australian moved to Formula Renault, entering the European and Italian championships. He finished the year seventh in the Italian series with 196 points and scoring a single podium at Valencia. He failed to score a point in his few starts in the European races.

Ricciardo stayed in Formula Renault for 2008, entering the European and Western European championships. By the end of the year, the he took his first European title in the Western European Cup and finished second in the Eurocup.

Formula Three

During the middle of the 2008 season, Ricciardo made his Formula Three debut at the Nürburgring. He qualified in eighth for the first race. He was moved up to sixth in the race after James Jakes and Christian Vietoris stalled on the grid.

Ricciardo moved to the British Formula Three Championship for 2009, driving for Carlin Motorsport. He also made his debut in the 3.5-litre World Series by Renault championship. He retired from the first race, before finishing fifteenth in the second. When he returned to Formula Three, he extended his championship lead. Ricciardo became the first Australian driver since David Brabham in 1989 to win the British F3 title. He won the championship by 87 points.

Ricciardo continued with Carlin for the Macau Grand Prix with the team. He finished sixth in the qualifying race. He retired on the first lap of the main race after hitting the wall.

Formula Renault 3.5 Series

On 30 October 2009, Ricciardo was signed by Tech 1 to compete in the 2010 Formula Renault 3.5 Series season. He had 8 pole positions in the season, 4 wins, and finished the season second in the championship.

Ricciardo returned to the series in 2011 for ISR Racing

Formula One

Ricciardo as Scuderia Toro Rosso's third driver at the 2011 Malaysian Grand Prix.

Ricciardo made his track debut at the wheel of a Formula One car in December 2009. He tested for Red Bull Racing at the young drivers test at Circuito de Jerez. On the final day of testing, Ricciardo had the fastest time of the test by more than one second. Ricciardo became one of the test and reserve drivers for both Red Bull Racing, and the sister team Scuderia Toro Rosso

In November 2010, Ricciardo was the only Red Bull Racing driver at the end-of-season young drivers test. Ricciardo dominated the event. His fastest lap was 1.3 seconds faster than Sebastian Vettel's qualifying lap the Saturday before. Ricciardo remained unbeaten in Formula One tests he has attended.

On 26 November 2010, Ricciardo was confirmed as Toro Rosso's test and reserve driver for the 2011 season. He will take part in the first free practice session of each race weekend.

Racing record

Career summary

Season	Series	Team	Races	Wins	Poles	F/Laps	Podiums	Points	Position
2005	Australian Formula Ford	Privateer	3	0	0	?	0	74	8th
2006	Formula BMW Asia	Eurasia Motorsport	19	2	3	3	12	231	3rd
	Formula BMW UK	Motaworld Racing	2	0	0	0	0	3	20th
	Formula BMW World Final	Fortec Motorsport	1	0	0	0	0	N/A	5th
2007	Formula Renault 2.0 Italy	RP Motorsport	14	0	0	0	0	196	6th
2007	Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0	RP Motorsport	4	0	0	0	0	0	NC
2008	Formula Renault 2.0 WEC	SG Formula	15	8	9	7	11	192	1st
	Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0		18	6	5	5	7	136	2nd
	Formula Three Euroseries		2	0	0	0	0	N/A	NC^↓
	Masters of Formula 3		1	0	0	0	0	N/A	NC
2009	British Formula Three Championship	Carlin Motorsport	20	7	6	5	13	275	1st
	Masters of Formula 3	Carlin Motorsport	1	0	0	0	0	N/A	NC
	Formula Renault 3.5 Series	Tech 1 Racing	2	0	0	0	0	0	34th
	Macau Grand Prix	Carlin	1	0	0	0	0	N/A	NC
2010	Formula Renault 3.5 Series	Tech 1 Racing	16	4	8	5	8	136	2nd
2011	Formula Renault 3.5 Series	ISR	7	2	2	2	3	89*	4th*
	Formula One	Red Bull Racing	Test driver
	Formula One	Scuderia Toro Rosso	Test driver
	Formula One	Hispania	0	0	0	0	0	0*	NC*

^↓ As a guest driver, Ricciardo was ineligible for points
^* Season in progress

Complete Formula Three Euroseries results

(key)

Yr	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	Pos	Points
2008	SG Formula	HOC1 1	HOC1 2	MUG 1	MUG 2	PAU 1	PAU 2	NOR 1	NOR 2	ZAN 1	ZAN 2	NÜR 1 6	NÜR 2 15	BRH 1	BRH 2	CAT 1	CAT 2	LMS 1	LMS 2	HOC2 1	HOC2 2	NC†	0

† – As Ricciardo was a guest driver, he was ineligible for points.

Complete Formula Renault 3.5 Series results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	Pos	Points
2009	Tech 1 Racing	CAT SPR	CAT FEA	SPA SPR	SPA FEA	MON FEA	HUN SPR	HUN FEA	SIL SPR	SIL FEA	BUG SPR	BUG FEA	ALG SPR Ret	ALG FEA 15	NÜR SPR	NÜR FEA	ALC SPR	ALC FEA	34th	0
2010	Tech 1 Racing	ALC 1 3	ALC 2 2	SPA 1 13	SPA 2 5	MON 1 1	BRN 1 12	BRN 2 5	MAG 1 6	MAG 2 2	HUN 1 1	HUN 2 6	HOC 1 1	HOC 2 11	SIL 1 Ret	SIL 2 2	CAT 1 1	CAT 2 4	2nd	136
2011	ISR Racing	ALC 1	ALC 2	SPA 1 10	SPA 2 9	MNZ 1 6	MNZ 2 1	MON 1 1	NÜR 1 2	NÜR 2 5	HUN 1	HUN 2	SIL 1	SIL 2	LEC 1	LEC 2	CAT 1	CAT 2	17th*	3*

Complete Formula One results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	WDC	Points
2011	Scuderia Toro Rosso	Toro Rosso STR6	Ferrari 056 2.4 L V8	AUS TD	MAL TD	CHN TD	TUR TD	ESP TD	MON TD	CAN TD	EUR TD													26th*	0*
2011	Hispania Racing	Hispania F111	Cosworth CA2011 2.4 L V8										GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	SIN	JPN	KOR	IND	ABU	BRA		26th*	0*

^* Season in progress.

Sporting positions
Preceded by Jules Bianchi (French Championship)	Formula Renault 2.0 WEC Champion 2008	Succeeded by Albert Costa
Preceded by Jaime Alguersuari	British Formula Three Champion 2009	Succeeded by Jean-Eric Vergne