Eight wins, three pole positions and 32 podiums. Daniel Ricciardo is one of Formula One's well loved drivers but when and where did his motorsport career kick-start?
It's 2008 and an 18-year-old Australian named Daniel Ricciardo was appointed to the Red Bull Junior Team in hopes of pushing youngsters to the higher racing categories.
Winning the 2008 Formula Renault 2.0 championship and the 2009 British Formula Three championship, an invitation from Red Bull landed at his doorstep to partake in the Young Driver's test for F1.
His speed and talent caught the eye of Red Bull giving them the option to promote him to test and reserve driver for Red Bull and Toro Rosso for the 2010 season alongside New Zealand's Brendon Hartley.
Management at Red Bull were impressed and wanted him in a seat as soon as possible promoting Ricciardo to a race seat with Toro Rosso.
With an impressive start at his home Grand Prix making it to both Q2 and Q3, Red Bull most likely didn't regret their decision to promote the young driver.
The next season came along and Ricciardo remained with the team which turned out to be one of the most difficult for the Australian.
The Monaco Grand Prix saw a crash between Lotus driver Romain Grosjean on lap 66 where both drivers suffered with terminal damage and were both forced to retire from the rest of the race.
Fellow Australian driver Mark Webber had retired at the end-of the 2013 season giving Ricciardo a new opportunity at Red Bull Racing.
Driving alongside world champion Sebastian Vettel, with Danil Kvyat replacing Ricciardo's seat at Toro Rosso.
The first round in the Red Bull didn't come so lucky as he was disqualified from his home race despite standing second on the podium until the FIA's new fuel flow regulations were put in place meaning that Ricciardo's fuel flow was over the limit.
He left the Red Bull family in 2018 to join Renault where he spent two seasons before signing a new contract with McLaren from 2021 to 2023.
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner was in talks of Ricciardo moving to AlphaTauri but was then only hired as the team's test and reserve driver.
The team at AlphaTauri were unhappy with the performance of rookie driver Nyck De Vries and decided that Ricciardo would be the best replacement.
From the Hungarian Grand Prix, Ricciardo then drove alongside Yuki Tsunoda.
The 2024 season is soon approaching and Ricciardo remains with the team and AlphaTauri is now named Visa Cash App RB with their blue and white VCARB 01 being revealed last week.
Harley Parker
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