Danny Ricciardo

[macca]

Redbull cars have been disqualified from qualifying, a wing cap? is too flexible. So they start from the rear tonight.

[threedogs]

yeah pretty strict on the regs williams lost points years agos
because the pop rivet heads made the car too wide go figure

[krbrooking]

Hey Guys, your not getting mixed up with Tony Ricciardello are you. He drives a Chevy powered Alpha. <img src="http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=51804"/>

You could be right it was quite a few years ago now??

Sent from my iPhone using Forum Runner

[Avo]

here's some info from 2009...the herald sun,,yes Daniels dad was tony

CALLING a kid Australia's next formula one driver is easy, but history - and motor sport's rocky path to the top - makes the tag hard to fulfil.
Daniel Ricciardo has the uncomplicated self assurance that marked Mark Webber, his hero, and Ryan Briscoe, another successful role model, in their early days.

He talks easily, with genuine warmth and apparent honesty, without that artificial sheen that some drivers assume after a gallop through PR finishing school.

"My main goal is formula one, not just to make it but to become world champion one day," he said, making it sound more like a statement of intent than a boast.

All that intelligence and off-track maturity is all very well but thousands of would-be stars have that stuff by the truckload. It's handy but of no real help when you're banging wheels and looking to outbrake and muscle past the leader at Albert Park.

Only 13 Australians have driven in a formula one race since the world championship began in 1950.

Since Webber made his debut seven years ago, none of his countrymen have joined him on an F1 grid. Before Webber, the last Aussie to race a F1 car was David Brabham in 1994.

It's early days yet for Ricciardo but he's already won an international championship and, more importantly, caught the eye of a drinks company that has the money and influence to take him all the way to the top in F1.

Ricciardo's career path is similar to many in motor sport. His dad, Tony, raced, meaning Daniel was around cars at Perth's Barbagallo Raceway from an early age.

He learnt in karts from the age of nine but at 17 made a choice between motor sport and a promising tennis career.

He took a huge leap of faith by heading to Europe in a make-or-break 2007 season in the Italian Formula Renault championship. His racing that year was funded largely by his parents.

Living alone at 17, he survived on restaurant meals. A scout from the Red Bull junior development race driver program noted Ricciardo's speed and dedication and snapped him up. Now he is one of eight young drivers benefitting from significant financial support and mentoring from the likes of David Coulthard.

Last year Ricciardo, with Red Bull support, dominated the Formula Renault West European Cup and narrowly missed taking out that category's Eurocup, too.

Australia's most recent world champ, Alan Jones, has trialled Ricciardo in his A1 Grand Prix team and thought he was a rare prospect.

Last weekend he won both races at the opening round of the British Formula Three Championship, driving with Carlin Motorsport, which has been a gateway to F1 for more drivers than any other F3 team and last year had the top-three drivers in the series.

The 19-year-old from Duncraig, WA, won the second race at the Oulton Park circuit in Cheshire by 2.625 seconds from Austrian Walter Grubmuller after earlier beating Briton Nick Tandy by 2.459s.

It appears Ricciardo is the beneficiary of a recession-proof deal at least for 2009, with Red Bull paying his seven-figure 2009 budget.

"We saw what this program can do - that it's realistic [to get to F1 and win]. The aim has got to be to try to mimic what [Red Bull Racing's Sebastien] Vettel has done," he said