A native of Perth, Red Bull junior Daniel made a name for himself when his racing career bought him to Europe. After a year learning the ropes in Formula Renault Italy, he made his big breakthrough in 2008, winning the Formula Renault West European Cup. From 15 races, Daniel took nine pole positions and eight victories on his way to the title. For 2009 Daniel moved up a class to race in the British Formula 3 Championship and quickly proved that his Formula Renault form wasn’t a flash in the pan. In a spectacular season, the young gun notched seven wins, six pole positions and 13 podium finishes in total, as well as the small detail of wrapping up the title with two rounds to go.

His F3 success earned him a berth at the end-of-season F1 test for rookies and again Daniel duly delivered, leaving the Jerez shoot-out with far and away the best times, after driving for our sister team Red Bull Racing. His consistent pace and intelligent feedback in those tests earned him the ‘super-sub’ role as test and reserve driver for Scuderia Toro Rosso and Red Bull Racing in 2010, while he also found time to take the silver medal position in the Renault 3.5 Championship.

In a career full of big steps, the biggest came in 2011: the Australian was given the job of replacing each of our two race drivers in turn during Fridays Free Practice 1 sessions at the Grands Prix, so the man from Perth was now a regular in the F1 paddock. It got even more serious just after the mid-season: starting from the British Grand Prix he got a full time drive with the Hispania Racing Team, which definitely boosted his experience level. Could 2011 get any better? Answer yes, because a couple of weeks after the end of the season, Daniel was confirmed as a full time race driver for Scuderia Toro Rosso in 2012. “It feels like coming home,” said Ricciardo about returning to the Faenza team on a full time basis.

Visit his official website: www.danielricciardo.com