Daniel Ricciardo F1 News: Axed star handed striking warning as career COMEBACK posed

Daniel Ricciardo

Ricciardo handed striking career warning as F1 COMEBACK posed

Should Daniel Ricciardo be weighing up a return to F1?

Kerry Violet F1 News Editor

F1 editor and journalist covering motorsport since 2024.

Monday 17 February 2025 21:59

Axed Formula 1 star Daniel Ricciardo has been handed a vital warning over the future of his career should he wish to make a comeback to the pinnacle of motorsport.

The Aussie racer shot to fame after the Netflix docuseries Drive to Survive gained popularity after it was first released in 2019, but his popularity with the fans wasn't enough to stop him from being dropped from the sport midway through the 2024 season.

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The 35-year-old had come and gone from the Red Bull F1 family throughout his career, with his most successful spell occurring between 2014 and 2018, when he raced for Red Bull's main team.

After opting to leave Christian Horner's outfit in 2019 in favour of a questionable move to Renault, Ricciardo never truly recovered the form that saw him achieve eight grand prix victories and two P3 season finishes in the drivers' standings.

The former Red Bull star even tried out a change of scenery at McLaren, but unfortunately, the papaya outfit terminated Ricciardo's contract early after a disappointing run of performances, leaving him without a full-time seat for 2023.

Daniel Ricciardo achieved one grand prix win with McLaren at the 2021 Italian GP before being axed

Daniel Ricciardo was dropped from VCARB in 2024 and has seemingly retired from F1

Click here to buy the unofficial Danny Ric vintage style racing graphic tee.

David Coulthard delivers stark verdict over Ricciardo return

Ricciardo was handed what felt like a career lifeline later in 2023 when Red Bull's junior team, known as AlphaTauri at the time, called upon their former driver to replace a struggling Nyck de Vries.

Sadly, the Aussie star would go on to meet the same fate after he stuck with the team as they transitioned to VCARB but failed to reach the end of the 2024 season with the outfit after his own performance began to decline.

With fans and experts in the sport missing Ricciardo's fun-loving personality around the paddock, it has been frequently suggested since his departure that he could be better off remaining in the limelight with a media role.

Discussing Ricciardo’s career and drawing comparisons against his own, former F1 driver David Coulthard has revealed why he felt his own F1 journey was better than Ricciardo’s in a light-hearted game on a recent episode of Driver with Lucas Stewart.

David Coulthard has interviewed F1 stars like Daniel Ricciardo in his punditry role after his retirement from the sport

"There’s no question Daniel, what eight grand prix victories, great overtaker, but the way his career petered out is what would make me hold on to keeping my silence," Coulthard admitted when pondering whether he or Ricciardo had the more successful F1 career.

"If he has still got racing on his mind, then he's got to find a race championship. I think that there's no question he would be an asset for a Formula 1 team in terms of personality,"

"But this isn't a personality contest, it's a stopwatch contest, you've got to acknowledge McLaren didn't work out and then the comeback with VCARB didn't work out either.

"But he has been gifted a period of time in Formula 1 where the popularity and growth has been such that he's a celebrity beyond being a driver.

"I wouldn't be surprised if he has already worked out that working within the media space will keep that celebrity."

Coulthard, who now juggles his role as a Red Bull ambassador with F1 punditry duties, finished his verdict with an honest piece of advice, adding: "What I would recommend he doesn't do is think that he can sort of take a year out and then come back and still be as interesting."

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Written by

Kerry Violet - F1 News Editor

Having graduated from the University of Sheffield with a 2:1 in Journalism in 2022, Kerry continued her pursuit of finding a full-time position in motorsport through work with the F1 Arcade in London, where she got to meet true fans of the sport and make a live grand prix watch party memorable for them. It was here that she confirmed her dream of combining her background in journalism and love of motorsport, going on to volunteer with the female-led platform Empoword Journalism. Having completed stints as a screen editor and sports editor, Kerry landed her first F1-specific editorial role with GPFans and has thoroughly enjoyed continuing to work closely with the sport ever since. The access GPFans offers Kerry has allowed her to interview big names such as Naomi Schiff and David Coulthard and given her experiences she could only have dreamt of as a young F1 fan.

View full biography

Red Bull Ferrari Christian Horner Daniel Ricciardo Netflix Renault