The entire sporting world has gone through a revolution over the past couple of years. Human and Civil rights movements across the globe have inevitably reached the world of high-performance athletes. We’ve seen big names like Lewis Hamilton come out in support to voice their own concerns and beliefs. That being said, this global awakening to the problems plaguing our world has positively impacted the world of F1, too. It’s easy to forget, given the nature of their job and the scale of their fandom, that F1 drivers, at the end of the day, are only human. Daniel Ricciardo faced a similar revelation during the most tumultuous time in his glorious F1 career.

When the Honey Badger was at Red Bull, at least till Max Verstappen decided to show up, he was the king of the hill. Seemingly invulnerable. Admittedly impenetrable. His on and off-track persona gave us the feeling that he was never the one to worry about or mull over things. However, in the past few years, Ricciardo has started coming to terms with his own demons.

Arguably, the downfall of Ricciardo’s F1 career began the moment he decided to quit Red Bull after 2018. It fully materialized after his doomed move to McLaren. But when he was battling through it all, he realized a part of himself he’d always suppressed and shied away from.

Back in 2020, when he was driving for Renault, talking to Alt-Drive magazine, Ricciardo opened up about his coming face-to-face with the realities of mental health. “Mental health wasn’t a term I was so familiar with until about four years ago. In sport, especially for men, you feel like you’re too proud and your ego is too big to have problems.”

“For example, there was a stigma that you couldn’t be seen as being upset on TV as it might impact your image, or something silly like that. That is changing now.”

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Along the way, Ricciardo’s been lucky to get help. But if you ask him, his healing begins as he steps aside from the sport.

Daniel Ricciardo was hoping for a 2023 break

When McLaren announced that Ricciardo wouldn’t be driving for them in 2023, it didn’t come as a shock. However, fans and people involved in the sport were keen to see the Honey Badger re-ignite his career at another team. But when Ricciardo hesitated putting pen to paper, many deemed it as the wrong step. Well, nothing could’ve been farther away from the truth.

On F1’s Beyond the Grid podcast, Ricciardo said, “The more … days that passed and, especially as I did the triple-header to get back into the second half of the season – so three races on the bounce – it became more and more clear that it wasn’t about what phone call I was receiving; it was about me acknowledging that I just ultimately don’t want to be competing next year.”

“So, in a way I am glad that, let’s say, a top team didn’t reach out, because it’s one of those ones where you probably feel, ‘Oh, I’ve got to sign it’, but I think deep down I was just craving a bit of distance.”

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Can Ricciardo pave his way back into F1 with a team deserving of his talent?