Ex-F1 star Daniel Ricciardo admits reservations about career change: 'I was s**tting myself'

Photo: © IMAGO

Daniel Ricciardo

Daniel Ricciardo admits reservations about career change: 'I was s**tting myself'

Ricciardo owns the Enchante clothing brand

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Wednesday 29 July 2026 22:29

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The career for former F1 star Daniel Ricciardo has taken some wild turns over the past couple of years, but now he seems to be trying his hand at photography!

The ex-Red Bull star left F1 in 2024, and became a global ambassador with Ford Racing, meaning we have seen him at a variety of events over the past 12 months.

But, on top of that, the Australian is also the owner of the Enchante clothing brand, a role that has seen him travel around the world with various pop-up shops.

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It is amazing to think that this time three years ago, Ricciardo was making a stunning return to F1 to replace Nyck de Vries and, this time two years ago, he still had a full-time F1 seat.

Having been axed by McLaren at the end of 2022, Ricciardo was welcomed back into the Red Bull family with open arms, becoming the reserve driver with the team who he had won seven grands prix with.

But following De Vries' poor form at AlphaTauri (now Racing Bulls), Ricciardo became an F1 racer once more, and partnered Yuki Tsunoda for the 2024 season.

His own form was not much better than De Vries', however, and Ricciardo was axed by the team after the 2024 Singapore GP without being given the opportunity to finish the season.

A second sacking in three campaigns led to the Australian leaving F1 for good, and he is yet to make a public return to the paddock, but he has kept busy throwing himself into other projects.

That has included his Enchante brand, and now he has revealed how scary he has found it settling into a new career that allows him to try his hand at directing photo shoots and getting behind the lens of a camera instead of standing in front of it.

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Ricciardo enjoying challenges of new career

Ricciardo took his Enchante team to Bridgehampton in America for their latest shoot, a place which previously held American motor racing events in the 50s.

The Enchante shoot - for which Ricciardo was the director - included models posing with old sports cars whilst wearing the brand's newest pieces.

"I was s**tting myself a bit when doing this," Ricciardo admitted in a blog on the Enchante website.

"I thought it would be fun to be on the other side of the camera, as most of the time throughout my career, the lens was often pointed at me. So why not try out life on the other side of a 28mm (which is on my Leica, makes me sound like I know something about cameras) and shoot the next campaign.

"I did recently shoot the euro summer collection but that was a little more casual and let's just see what happens. Basically how I've run most of my life.

"I kinda forgot the part about directing, not just clicking," he continued.

"Telling people where to stand, how to interact, when to be serious, cute, laugh, all of it was really funny cos I kept telling myself, what the f*** am I doing.

"Are they laughing at me? I don't even know how to hold a camera properly let alone figure out what I want the models to do or what light I'm looking for and what settings my camera should be on."

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