F1 legend Daniel Ricciardo heading to iconic race: 'Never been more excited'

Daniel Ricciardo

Daniel Ricciardo heading to iconic race: 'Never been more excited'

Daniel Ricciardo was sacked by VCARB midway through the 2024 season

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Thursday 7 May 2026 21:57

Former F1 star Daniel Ricciardo has confirmed that he will be present in the paddock for an iconic race later this month.

Ricciardo retired from F1 back in 2024 after being axed by his VCARB team, the second time he had been sacked by a team in three seasons.

It brought to an end a career which spanned 14 seasons and saw him pick up eight race victories in that time.

Article continues under video

The majority of the Australian's success came with Red Bull, and his recent signing on as an ambassador with Ford Racing led to suggestions that he could be seen in the paddock at various grands prix in 2026 because of Ford's new partnership with Red Bull Racing.

However, Ricciardo revealed that his role has nothing to do with the F1 power unit side of things, and that he would more be heading to some of Ford Racing's other racing series around the world.

Now, it has been confirmed in a podcast alongside IndyCar racer Connor Daly that Ricciardo will be heading to this year's Indy500 race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, watching on as a fan.

The iconic Indy500 is part of motorsport's legendary triple crown, and this year falls on the weekend of May 23/24, the same weekend as the F1 Canadian Grand Prix.

Ricciardo has revealed his excitement about watching the race simply as a fan, away from the F1 'bubble'.

"What you've told me about IndyCar and the 500 like I've never been more excited since I was a kid to go to a race and just be a fan of a race," Ricciardo told the Speed Street podcast.

Speaking to IndyCar racer Daly, Ricciardo said: "To experience it in the way you speak about it, you've done the European thing and travelled the world racing, I think this is going to really hit me hard, I'm excited to be a fan and to share you the hometown hero on the biggest race of the year that's cool."

Ricciardo then shared what he's most excited for about the race. "Alot," he said. "I was in the F1 bubble for so long and I got used to how intense the schedule was, the paddock, all of it. And that became normal, but now I'm outside of it I'm like that was far from normal, the schedule was down to the minute. And so there's a curiosity of like what does a week look like for you for the biggest race of the year.

"The sheer size of the in-field. Everyone says that's insane. So there's that, and the sound. The sound is something that I grew up, that was what I was drawn to most with racing was how cool race cars sounded so very curious to hear what they sound like wide open.

"And yeah, seeing coming into turn one how scary that looks and I'll be glad that I don't have a suit or a helmet on!"

What is motorsport's triple crown?

Now Ricciardo is no longer an F1 driver, he has more time to potentially attempt to claim wins in other legs of motorsport's triple crown.

He already has the Monaco Grand Prix side of that, won in 2018, but is yet to attempt the Indy500 or 24 Hours of Le Mans races.

The only racer ever to have claimed victories in all three events is Britain's Graham Hill, who was also a two-time world champion in F1.

Several racers have completed two legs of the triple crown, including Fernando Alonso who won Le Mans in 2018 and 2019, and Juan Pablo Montoya.

It remains to be seen whether or not Ricciardo wants to try to win Indy500 in the future, but at the age of 36, he still has time on his side. This year, however, he will be watching safely from the paddock as a fan.

Written by

Sam Cook - Digital Journalist

Sam Cook is a talented young sports journalist and social media professional who now specialises in Formula 1, having previously worked as a football journalist and a local news reporter for a variety of different brands.

View full biography

F1 Red Bull Daniel Ricciardo Indy 500