F1 Fanatic

Daniel Ricciardo won the British F3 championship in 2009. He progressed to the World Series by Renault the following year, where he finished runner-up to Mikhail Aleshin by two points.

Ricciardo drove for Red Bull in the post-season rookie test that year and again in 2010.

He remained in the World Series by Renault for 2011, but dovetailed it with increasing F1 commitments. He participated in Friday first practice sessions for Red Bull’s sister team Toro Rosso.

HRT

2011

Ahead of the British Grand Prix he joined HRT’s race team in place of Narain Karthikeyan.

Ricciardo remained at the team for the rest of the season, showing gradual signs of progress and faring well against his more experienced team mates. That earned him a promotion to Toro Rosso’s race team for 2012.

Toro Rosso

2012

Ricciardo was quick to deliver on the points-scoring potential of the STR7, coming home ninth in his home race at Melbourne. But 11 races passed before he returned to the points as Toro Rosso found themselves at the tail of a congested midfield.

Buoyed by the arrival of James Key to replace Giorgio Ascanelli, Ricciardo became a regular conteder for points in the second half of the season. In Korea a gearbox problem left him 21st on the grid but he finished ninth and would have been higher had a technical glitch not dropped him behind his team mate.

Both drivers were kept on for the next season.

Career stats

Pictures

Daniel Ricciardo 2013 helmets

Image © Red Bull/Getty images