Born in Perth, on 1 º July 1989, Daniel Ricciardo debuts in F1 in 2011 in the British Grand Prix, replacing Narain Karthikeyan in HRT. Until that time the Australian was the third driver of the team.
In 2012, his first full season in F1: he is promoted from test driver to race driver for the Toro Rosso in place of Sebastien Buemi. In the first race in Australia immediately won his first two points of the season, finishing ninth. At the end, he scored 10 points that earned him the 18th place in the final standings. Points that doubled in the 2013 season, always driving a Toro Rosso and finishing 14th. On September 2, Helmut Marko on Servus TV announced the hiring of Ricciardo by Red Bull Racing in 2014 alongside Sebastian Vettel to replace the compatriot Mark Webber.
This season soon reached the podium in Australia. Nevertheless, Fia disqualified him for irregularities in the flow of fuel. In the Grand Prix of Spain rose for the first time on the podium in Formula 1, finishing third ahead of team-mate Sebastian Vettel. After another third place in Monaco, in the next Canadian Grand Prix Ricciardo won his first Gran Prix, ahead of Nico Rosberg and Vettel.

– Do you get on well with Vettel?
Yes I do, he’s shown me a lot of respect this year and I think he’s been a fair competitor on and off the track.

– Which car do you enjoy more, the V6 of this year or the one of last year?
This year, probably because I’m having more success with it as well

– Have you ever imagined that in your first season in this team you would have already beaten Sebastian and obtained such a great results?
I hoped to have had this success but yes it’s fair to say I’ve been pleasantly surprised.

– After the departure of Webber, you are the only Australian driver in Formula 1. How do you feel being the only driver that represents such an important nation for its tradition in motorsport?
It’s great to take over from Mark. He was someone I looked up to and its nice to compete for my country on a world stage

– This is your first year in a Renault engine car. What are your first impressions?
The engines have made massive changes this year so I can’t compare it.

– Since 2015, the FIA will adopt a new rule that consists of a restart after the safety car. You said that isn’t the best solution, what would you change?
I just think that rule is a bit dramatic. I think the safety car restarts are fine the way they are.

– With the adoption of the new V6 turbo hybrid the way you have to drive is completely changed. The single exhausthas virtually eliminated the Coandă effects. As a driver, have you ever experienced this sudden change of style? How does the car without the burden resulting from discharges to Coandă effect?
Yeh you do feel a loss in rear downforce because of it. It basically means you have less rear grip in general so the car slides a bit more. It’s just like driving the car with an older set of tyres.

– Many fans do not agree on the development of hybrid technology in F1. What is your opinion in this regard? Do you think the hybrid is really the future of the Circus?
I understand the reasons to be more economical and this is the way the future is going.

– What is your opinion about the new “concept” 18 inch led by Pirelli during the last test at Silverstone?
It looks strange, lets see what happens.

– We are hearing about a possibility that Monza will be excluded from the F1 schedule next years. Your experience at Toro Rosso has several times put you in contact with the heat of the Italians towards the sport. Do you think that F1 can do without Italy?
Definitely not. Monza not only has an immense following of ‘tifosi’ but a whole lot of history also. These places define F1. And Italy in general is one of the biggest automotive countries in the world. We need to keep F1 at these prestigious places.

– What did you feel when you, in Canada, were on the highest step of the podium?
A lot of emotion and satisfaction. Its an image I pictured in my head thousands of times but to make it a reality was incredible.

– How changed the way of working with an English-minded team as the Red Bull? Did you find major differences compared to the Toro Rosso team purely Italian?
The biggest difference is Red Bull are world champions and have that world champion mentality. They expect to win. This changes the mindset on all the personnel including the drivers. Its a good thing. And of course the language barrier is easier to manage. My italian isn’t bad but not perfect either 🙂