“I’m Daniel Ricciardo and I’m a car mechanic.”
Those were the words that had self-confessed "Drive to Survive fans" Zoe Jewell and Hannah Hall hooked on Formula 1. The pair fell in love with the sport, thanks in no small part to Ricciardo’s cheeky demeanour in the first episode of Netflix’s smash docuseries five years ago, and went on to launch the "Fan Behavior" F1 podcast. They joke that their entire business, and love for motorsport, would be nonexistent without him.
In the wake of the news that Ricciardo would be replaced by rookie Liam Lawson ahead of the United States Grand Prix, social media feeds were flooded with emotional videos as fans eulogised his 13-year career and pondered whether the ‘honey badger’ had been short-changed — not only by Red Bull, but by F1 at large, by being denied a proper send-off.
“Daniel’s the very first face you see, the very first person you're introduced to,” Jewell told Motorsport while discussing the pilot episode of ‘DTS.’ “He has such an infectious personality; he’s so likable and so easy to root for. There was a human element about him straight away: you could see yourself hanging out with him or him being a part of your friend group.”
Lewis Hamilton, who is arguably the world’s best-known F1 driver, and both Mercedes and Ferrari declined to participate in the first season of ‘DTS,’ which forced Ricciardo into the limelight. By the time fans got a peek behind Hamilton’s helmet in Season Two, they were already enamoured by the Aussie’s boyish charm, and the promise that he was a world champion in-waiting.
“He was this connection point for a lot of people trying to figure out F1 for the first time,” Jewell explained. “For me, Daniel was step one, then I got obsessed with the racing, then it was learning about strategy … I don’t know if I would have continued with the show had it not been for him,” she admitted.
Hall chimed in, “I don’t think the impact of the show would have been the same if he wasn't the lead character. And you just can’t ignore the fact he played a big part in this new, heavily female group of fans who are participating in the sport.”
Liberty Media, the multi-billion dollar conglomerate that purchased F1 from Bernie Ecclestone in 2017, has made no secret of its desire to capture the American sports market, and has boasted about skyrocketing attendance and viewership in the wake of the post-’DTS’ boom. Many fans think that success is owed, in part, to the 35-year-old Australian, who's had an undeniable impact on the sport's shifting demographic, which now skews much younger and a lot more female than decades past.
“Daniel was so willing to dive into American culture and American media … I think people forget that even a few years ago not a lot of drivers were doing that,” Jewell said. “Daniel was the person to go on podcasts, talk shows, YouTube … and connect with fans in different ways than other drivers had.”
Two Girls One Formula podcast-co-host Nicole Sievers, who became a fan of the Australian after stumbling across his post-race interviews online, echoed the sentiment.
“I think he brought out a lot of personality in the other drivers and gave them the approval to be themselves in a landscape where they weren't allowed to do social media and have these big personalities when Bernie was in charge,” she said, referencing the climate in the paddock before Liberty Media swooped in. “They were just sort of expected to show up and race but I think Daniel always fought back on that.”
Of course, drivers regularly lose their seats and fan-favorites exit the sport (see Sebastian Vettel in 2022) but Ricciardo’s departure feels more emotionally-charged than anything we’ve witnessed in the modern era, and it might just come back to that first season of 'DTS.'
“For the wave of fans that got into F1 through Drive to Survive, they never got to see him succeed at the level he was at in his Red Bull days,” Jewell said. “It leaves this feeling of unfinished business because he was sold to us in that first season as this great potential world champion and it never happened for him. It makes all of this a lot more difficult for people to swallow.”
Even Ricciardo’s die-hard fans aren’t delusional though. His lack of performance in recent years is evident, and many of them agree his time on the grid was coming to a natural conclusion. But the circumstances in which the axe fell on his career has left a poor taste in people’s mouths.
“It breaks my heart. The fact that they’re treating him this way is devastating,” Sievers said. “He’s done so much for this sport, especially in America. Red Bull made him be their court jester as a reserve driver in 2023, then we saw Christian [Horner] saying he has a strong future at the team … to fire him with six races left in the season when they're not even in the championship contention feels so horrible.”
Hall also criticised Horner, and Red Bull leadership, for bringing Ricciardo back into the fold just to “smack him when he’s down” with no celebration or send-off.
“Sure, he’s not driving his best right now but he’s on par with Yuki [Tsunoda] so you can’t say it’s about performance. The whole thing’s been really mishandled. Shame on Red Bull and shame on Formula 1.”
Ricciardo’s axing comes amid a spate of rookies stepping up to F1: fellow Aussie Jack Doohan, Kimi Antonelli and Ollie Bearman have all secured seats on the 2025 grid alongside Lawson. Meanwhile, 21-year-old Franco Colapinto replaced Logan Sargeant at Williams earlier this month and scored points in just his second race.
Katy Fairman, a motorsport journalist who has borne witness to Ricciardo’s influence on the sport over the past decade, said she understands the decision RB made.
“I imagine Red Bull don’t want to let a promising young junior escape and go somewhere else,” she said of Lawson. “And the reality is that Ricciardo hasn’t been performing at the level he needs to “
“But for a legacy like Daniel Ricciardo’s there definitely should have been more respect there so we can properly celebrate the end of a really iconic era in F1.”
