Exhausted Daniel Ricciardo Shares “Tricky” Life Experiences Beyond Glitz & Glamor of F1

The last couple of years have been difficult, to say the least, for Daniel Ricciardo. The Honey Badger arrived at McLaren with the expectations of carrying the team and acting as the senior driver to young Lando Norris. However, the stint went far from ideal, with the Briton outscoring his senior teammate each season. The series of underwhelming performances took a toll on the Aussie driver and he ultimately decided to take a year away from racing in F1. He revealed his entire experience in a video posted on his LinkedIn.

After deciding to take a break from F1, Ricciardo joined his old team, Red Bull, as a reserve driver. However, he will not replace any of the regular drivers if needed. Daniel will take part in the car’s development process. As per Helmut Marko, he will participate in the team’s promotional events.

When asked how he manages burnout, in his LinkedIn video, he replied, “It’s tricky because it’s hard to get away from it sometimes, it’s hard to get time to yourself with the schedule and the constant scrutiny, like you’re always surrounded by it. So what helps is having a good team around me to manage all of that and to keep some things away from me so that I can try to live a normal life away from the track.”

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Further in the video, he also gave away his tips and tricks to ensure good sleep.

How Daniel Ricciardo switches off to get a better sleep

There is a lot of hustle and bustle during a race weekend. Having to drive in more than 20 races each season can make one anxious. And the excitement before a race never goes away, even if you are a seasoned campaigner like Ricciardo. This used to disturb his sleep but now he has learned to manage it.

He told, “Now I’m pretty good but I think ultimately, I just try to find distractions. So I work quite hard at the racetrack so that I leave the F1 stuff at the track. So like when I get back to the hotel, I’m not thinking anymore because I know I’ve closed the book on that for the night. I might just watch a movie or if I’ve got friends there if it’s early enough, we’ll go out to dinner.”

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While F1 restarts next month, Ricciardo will strive to make a comeback in 2024. Given how the competition for every seat is increasing, it will certainly not be an easy feat.