Breaking news
Formula 1
Ricciardo suffered hardest year mentally
Daniel Ricciardo believes the 2018 Formula 1 season was his toughest season mentally because he has never had to overcome so many "hurdles" before.
Scott Mitchell
Published: Dec 18, 2018, 12:13 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
The Australian won two of the first six races but failed to finish on the podium over the next 15 events as poor reliability, chiefly from Red Bull's engine supplier Renault, blighted his campaign.
Ricciardo, who has now left Red Bull and will race for the Renault works team in 2019, told Motorsport.com that it has been the toughest season he has endured mentally.
"I don't want to overplay it like 'Man, I've been struggling'," Ricciardo said. "In the scheme of things I've been handling it well and I wouldn't say that my everyday life has suffered from it.
"But for sure, the racing and the emotions I've felt over the course of a race weekend have been more than I've ever experienced before.
"With the mental side, it's just been about trying to overcome these hurdles and the constant failures and trying to pick myself back up.
"I haven't had to do that so repetitively in a season before."
Ricciardo made the decision to leave Red Bull at the start of the summer break, and had already retired from four of the 11 grands prix completed by that point.
He had also fortunately survived a Renault MGU-K failure to win in Monaco.
Ricciardo suffered three further mechanical-induced non-finishes after the break, while other races were compromised by reliability problems triggering grid penalties.
He said that the emotional element of leaving Red Bull, which has backed him for more than a decade, had not added to the challenge of the season beyond his previous admission that he lost sleep at times this season.
"It was more that time around the decision and the contract talks and all that," said Ricciardo of the impact of his Red Bull departure.
"That took some energy out of me, just going back and forth and trying to figure out what was best for me in terms of my future.
"That took a bit of a toll and I lost some sleep over the course of that period, but once I'd made the decision, I feel like it took some weight off my shoulders and my mind has been clearer.
"I've obviously just had to deal with more on track highs and lows."
Red Bull suffered from suggestions it was deliberately crippling Ricciardo's final half-season with the team once he had decided to leave for Renault.
However, speaking on a farewell Red Bull podcast after the season finished, Ricciardo insisted he never felt like the team's attitude changed towards him.
"I'm happy and comfortable with the situation and the terms I'm leaving the team on," he said.
"I'm not leaving with my head down or any broken relationships or anything like that. I leave proud and I feel like I've given the team my all and had that in return.
"I never felt anything less than that."
Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull Racing RB14
Photo by: Steven Tee / LAT Images
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Why Honda's best F1 hope won't be leaving Japan
Next article Ericsson feels he left F1 after "strongest" season
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Scott Mitchell
Alfa Romeo must do better in "chaotic" races - Vasseur
Formula 1
Formula 1
Alfa Romeo must do better in "chaotic" races - Vasseur
Honda: Verstappen relationship 'like a young Senna'
Formula 1
Formula 1
Honda: Verstappen relationship 'like a young Senna'
Key team personnel shouldn't be F1 boss - Ferrari
Formula 1
Formula 1
Key team personnel shouldn't be F1 boss - Ferrari
More from
Daniel Ricciardo
Daniel Ricciardo shares heartfelt message after first Indy 500 visit brought back "childhood feelings"
Formula 1
Formula 1
Barcelona-Catalunya GP
Daniel Ricciardo shares heartfelt message after first Indy 500 visit brought back "childhood feelings"
Lando Norris reunites with Daniel Ricciardo for Indy 500 celebrations after disastrous Canadian GP
Formula 1
Formula 1
Canadian GP
Lando Norris reunites with Daniel Ricciardo for Indy 500 celebrations after disastrous Canadian GP
Daniel Ricciardo says life feels "more real" after abrupt F1 exit
Formula 1
Formula 1
Canadian GP
Daniel Ricciardo says life feels "more real" after abrupt F1 exit
More from
Red Bull Racing
Christian Horner clears air on “dream job” Ferrari rumours and sets return terms
Formula 1
Formula 1
Singapore GP
9 h
Christian Horner clears air on “dream job” Ferrari rumours and sets return terms
Christian Horner “wasn’t given a reason” for his “painful” Red Bull exit after Dietrich Mateschitz’s death
Formula 1
Formula 1
Singapore GP
12 h
Christian Horner “wasn’t given a reason” for his “painful” Red Bull exit after Dietrich Mateschitz’s death
Latest news
Spy shots of 2027 NASCAR Ford Mustang testing at Charlotte, but what's different?
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Charlotte II
2 h
Spy shots of 2027 NASCAR Ford Mustang testing at Charlotte, but what's different?
Five key takeaways from F1's big African Grand Prix reveal in Rwanda
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1 3 h
Five key takeaways from F1's big African Grand Prix reveal in Rwanda
Niels Koolen makes switch to Abel Motorsports ahead of 2027 Indy NXT campaign
Indy NXT
IndL Indy NXT 5 h
Niels Koolen makes switch to Abel Motorsports ahead of 2027 Indy NXT campaign
GT World Challenge Portimao: All you need to know about season finale featuring Max Verstappen
GT World Challenge Europe Endurance
WCEE GT World Challenge Europe Endurance 5 h
GT World Challenge Portimao: All you need to know about season finale featuring Max Verstappen
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe