Which F1 teams has Daniel Ricciardo previously raced for?

Reports suggest Daniel Ricciardo will replace Nyck de Vries immediately at AlphaTauri and will make his return to Formula 1 at the upcoming Hungarian Grand Prix. It's the next race on the Formula 1 calendar. Ricciardo has been somewhat of a journeyman in Formula 1, and these are the teams he has previously driven for.

Where did Daniel Ricciardo start his Formula 1 career?

The Australian made his debut halfway through the 2011 Formula 1 season for HRT. Ricciardo came in for Indian driver Narain Karthikeyan at the British Grand Prix. Using a Cosworth engine, Ricciardo started from the back of the grid (24th). He set a time over 0.5 seconds slower than teammate Vitantonio Liuzzi. The young driver benefitted from a few DNFs and finished in P19 on debut.

Even though he only managed to get as high as P18 (2011 Indian Grand Prix and 2011 Hungarian Grand Prix), he maximised the car's performance. So much so he impressed and was promoted to Toro Rosso for the start of the 2012 Formula 1 season. He experienced his first home race and started 10th on the grid. He gained one position in the race. Ricciardo went on to complete two seasons for Toro Rosso.

When did Daniel Ricciardo first join Red Bull Racing?

Mark Webber decided to retire at the end of the 2013 Formula 1 season, leaving a vacant seat alongside the World Champion Sebastian Vettel. Helmut Marko and Christian Horner decided that Ricciardo was the perfect driver to sit alongside Vettel as they entered the new turbo-hybrid engine era.

Ricciardo got to shine at the front of the grid in his home Grand Prix. He comfortably out-qualified Vettel and started on the front row. The event would play out well for Ricciardo, who went on to cross the line in P2; however the curse of Melbourne began. He was disqualified from the race because he had no fuel left in the car.

He didn't complete the Malaysian Grand Prix, but he scored his first points for Red Bull in the 2014 Bahrain Grand Prix and secured his first podium at the Spanish Grand Prix. On a run of form, Ricciardo then won the Canadian Grand Prix despite starting from sixth place. After seven races, including two pointless races, he sat ahead of the four-time World Champion in the standings.

Ricciardo went on to win two more races in 2014 and scored 71 more points than Vettel. Red Bull were confident to give him the number one seat when Vettel decided to move to Ferrari. The Red Bull car didn't perform optimally over the next few seasons as Mercedes, and Ferrari became clear front-runners. Via Daniil Kvyat, Ricciardo teamed up with Max Verstappen in 2016. Ricciardo got the better of his teammate in 2016 and 2017, but from then onwards, Verstappen was the clear favourite at Red Bull.

When did Ricciardo leave Red Bull?

Ricciardo left Red Bull at the end of the 2018 Formula 1 season. He moved to Renault for 2019 and 2020. In this time, Ricciardo had achieved just two podiums and was already seeking a different challenge. Despite winning a race in 2021, things got progressively worse for Ricciardo. His move to McLaren just didn't work out, as he was comfortably beaten by Lando Norris. He couldn't get to grips with the car, and the British team terminated his contract one year early.

This left Ricciardo without a seat for 2023, though Red Bull signed him back up as a reserve driver. Reports now suggest that Ricciardo will be moving to AlphaTauri, back where he really made a name for himself.