Daniel Ricciardo F1 News: Ex-Red Bull star close to LOSING famous race win

Daniel Ricciardo, VCARB, Visa, RB, Singapore, 2024 — Photo: © IMAGO

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Ricciardo close to LOSING famous F1 win

One of Daniel Ricciardo's most impressive F1 victories nearly never happened

Kerry Violet F1 News Editor

F1 editor and journalist covering motorsport since 2024.

Sunday 23 February 2025 21:56 Updated: 13:51

One of Daniel Ricciardo's most impressive career victories has been recalled during a reflection of Red Bull's performance issues.

The Aussie racer competed in Formula 1 between 2011 and 2024 but was dropped midway through the season last year by Red Bull's junior outfit VCARB.

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Having gotten his start in the pinnacle of motorsport with the Red Bull family, Ricciardo dipped in and out of the ranks of Christian Horner's team throughout his career.

His most successful run took place at Red Bull between 2014 and 2018, after Ricciardo replaced fellow countryman Mark Webber to partner Sebastian Vettel. before then racing alongside both Daniil Kvyat and Max Verstappen before his shock departure.

After Verstappen was promoted to the main team alongside Ricciardo, the Aussie star struggled with accepting his place as the team's second driver, opting to switch to Renault for the 2019 season.

After failing to secure any further race wins at the outfit, Ricciardo once again chose to change teams, moving to McLaren where he eventually earned his eighth and final career victory at the 2021 Italian GP.

Daniel Ricciardo raced for Red Bull in F1 between 2014 and 2018

Ricciardo's tenure at Red Bull was his most successful in his F1 career

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

Red Bull star reveals unbelievable Ricciardo comeback

The eight-time grand prix winner secured seven of his race wins whilst with Red Bull and following what appears to be a permanent exit from the sport last year, a team insider has revealed how Ricciardo came close to being pulled out of one of his most impressive races altogether.

In a recent appearance on the High Performance podcast with Jake Humphrey, Red Bull mechanic Calum Nicholas was asked to share a moment when he and his Red Bull team had to deliver against the odds.

"The one that always will stand out for me is Daniel Ricciardo in 2018 in China," Nicholas recalled.

Red Bull mechanic Calum Nicholas has reflected on a standout moment from Ricciardo's career

"We knew we weren't in a good shape with spare engines and then low and behold, there’s that thing in F1 that if something can go wrong, it will."

"We were in a position in P3 where the spare engines were not ready, they were nowhere near ready for other reasons but it was inevitable that that engine would fail in P3 and then we knew we’d have this massive issue trying to get that car out for qualifying."

"Ultimately we managed it, we got the car out with like a minute to spare."

Thanks to the hard work of Nicholas and his team in the Red Bull garage, Ricciardo made it through to qualifying in China, lining up on the grid in P6 ahead of a highly impressive overtaking masterclass which led to an infamous storm to victory.

After 37 laps of racing in sixth position, Ricciardo stormed through the pack to pass Kimi Raikkonen, team-mate Max Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel and Valtteri Bottas to earn his sixth GP win.

Following the astonishing performance, Ricciardo delivered what has become an iconic catchphrase, discussing his overtake on Hamilton with F1 pundit Martin Brundle, saying: "Sometimes you've just got to lick the stamp and send it."

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.

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Red Bull Max Verstappen McLaren Daniel Ricciardo VCARB