Ricciardo says he was never as consumed by racing as Verstappen and Alonso

Daniel Ricciardo says he has never been as consumed by racing as he believes Max Verstappen and Fernando Alonso are. That does not mean he dislikes the sport: the former Red Bull driver says trying in recent years to reconnect with driving helped him realise that he still enjoys it.

Ricciardo's F1 career ended in 2024, when he lost his seat at Red Bull's sister team after the Singapore Grand Prix. He has rarely appeared in the paddock since.

Speaking on the Beyond the Grid podcast, Ricciardo said he had grown tired of many things surrounding racing. He suggested those demands may have led him to think he no longer liked certain aspects of it, or may have damaged his relationship with the sport; the competition itself, he said, still mattered to him.

He also recalled a race-weekend calculation of how much time drivers actually spend driving on the circuit. According to Ricciardo, George Russell put it at about 17 per cent.