Ricciardo claims he is "enjoying some life in the slow lane"

Having retired from Formula One at last year's Singapore Grand Prix, eight-time grand prix winner Daniel Ricciardo claimed that he is now "enjoying some life in the slow lane."

Following his exit from McLaren at the end of the 2022 F1 season, Daniel Ricciardo served as reserve driver at Red Bull. The Australian then returned to action as a race driver with Red Bull's sister team AlphaTauri at the 2023 Hungarian Grand Prix, replacing Nyck de Vries.

However, Ricciardo’s return did not go to plan as he was unable to deliver the impressive performances he showed earlier during his career. Ricciardo’s career eventually came to an end after the 2024 Singapore GP, and his seat was taken by Liam Lawson.

Daniel Ricciardo has recently made several public appearances. The Australian attended his karting championship at Buckmore Park before he spent his 36th birthday with his parents watching the tennis at Wimbledon.

Speaking about his current life, Ricciardo said: “Future? I am just enjoying some life in the slow lane. It sounds weird saying retirement when I am [36] years old. But retirement from the world I was living in.

"It’s cool to be at the kart track. It’s my first time at a race track since Singapore, so quite a few months. It’s cool to see the kids. This is why I started karting.”

“Now that I’m a bit removed from it, and life is not as chaotic, it’s nice to remember what it was like to be at the start of a career. We all have idols and heroes. I would be very nervous meeting someone who I admired. So I understand sometimes it’s a bit overwhelming.

“But everyone seems pretty cool. Maybe I’m not the only driver they’ve met before. There are a lot of F1 fans here! To have someone that you want to try and obviously look up to and someone that can inspire you?

"If I’m able to sprinkle a tiny bit of inspiration or motivation by being here and having a chat to a few kids, that’s awesome! That’s something I know I appreciated when I was eight, nine, 10 years old.”

Signing off with a word for his motivation to become an F1 driver, Ricciardo said: “It wasn’t about trying to impress someone, or be someone you’re not. If you do this you’ll be on TV and make money’. It wasn’t about that, it was just, ‘Go and have fun’.”