Hey guys, Daniel Ricciardo here. Formula 1 driver from the great city of Perth,
Australia and today I'm going Back to School with Student
Edge.
Hi I'm Simon Miraudo and today we're going back to school with Formula 1 racer Daniel
Ricciardo. How are you going?
I'm well. Thanks so much for chatting with us.
No worries, it's good to be home. Going back to your days in Perth, what were
you like as a student. Umm, oh, questionable.
I was okay. If I got told off it was just because I was talking or fidgeting too much.
I was very... I think one teacher actually asked if I had
a problem, because I couldn't sit still, and I think she asked my mum one day, "Is Daniel
okay?" I just had ants in my pants all the time.
I couldn't sit still for very long, so my attention span was not great.
I was good at sport; sport was my favourite, at lunch time.
But no, to be honest, it was fine. I look back at school and I think it teaches you
some discipline and everything.
In terms of subjects, I was just getting by. I was never really in love with any subject
in particular.
I think to be honest it was because I was so driven by racing.
From a young age, I was just fixated on becoming a racing driver.
So school was, at the time, a way to just get by and make some friends.
Not a priority.
I probably shouldn't say that.
No, we want the honest truth.
Because I understand that you started carting at around 9, is that correct?
Yeah.
Did you have a passion for cars prior to that, or was that the thing that opened up the world.
No, I think I was 2 years old and I remember being addicted to the noise of cars
And then, when I was 3 and 4, watching it on the TV, sitting on the couch with dad.
So, to be honest, I was watching all sports.
Like, I can remember watching lawn bowls as well when i was a kid, I was fascinated.
You didn't go down that career path?
Yeah, racing was definitely what attracted me the most.
When you had that passion, did you see it as a career goal?
Did you see it as like, "Okay, this is what I'm going to do with my life"?
Or was it just a hobby and you've managed to finagle this fantastic career out of it?
Were you planning for backups, if this didn't work out?
I thought about backups, because yeah...
It was more of a hobby. As a kid, you're like, "Yeah, I want to be an F1 driver."
When it actually gets down to it and you put the work in and you're like, "Okay, that's
a big step to become an F1 driver. You're in Perth racing go-karts. How you gonna get
to F1?"
It just started off as a hobby and I enjoyed doing it more than anything else.
I always liked it as well because it was a little bit different.
Not really any other kid at the school was racing karts. I liked being a bit different,
I guess.
So you mentioned that a passion for racing was kind of unique to you.
Your schoolmates and your friends maybe didn't share it as much.
When you told them that, you did want to follow this more professional route, were they surprised?
Were they a bit dubious about you being able to pull it off?
Or were they supportive?
My close mates were supportive. I guess they knew a little bit about what I was trying
to do.
But then, sort of the, I'd say, the average mate or the average classmate at the time
at school, couldn't quite understand it.
A lot of kids were sort of like, "Oh, go-karts. I can race go-karts. I'll beat you. Let's
go this weekend and I'll beat you."
You just get a bit of that. It's one of those sports as well, because not really anyone
does it.
And it's not accessible to everyone, it's hard to explain it and sort of tell people
this is how it works and this is what it's like.
I think they understand it now, which is good.
Are these the same people guys who are sending you Facebook friend requests maybe today?
There's been a couple of them.
Sure.
So, you decided this was the thing you wanted to follow.
There was nothing really else that you were as passionate about.
You take that to your parents and how did they react? Had they been waiting for this
moment, for this conversation?
Or were they a bit like, "Well, are you sure this is what you want to do?"
Yeah, they were definitely nervous about it.
They never really - well, never at all - pushed me to do it.
If anything, they were maybe trying to hold me back.
I think dad grew up, you know, in racing or he was a fan of motorsports so he knew the
ins and outs about how it works.
He went to England for a couple years when he was younger to work on a racing time.
He sort of knew the racing world and he knew a small kid from Perth trying to make it in
F1 had never been done before.
He's like, "Okay, so what makes my son special do it."
So I think deep down he was a bit reserved and a little bit cautious that I was not gonna
get my hopes up.
But as I said, when I was 17 I said, "Okay, I really want to do it."
So I sat down, many, many late nights with my parents deciding what was the right thing
to do.
And then not only that, but then, where do you live, what team do you race for.
There was a lot of stuff to organise and yeah we just went for it.
And you ended up moving to Italy at 17.
Yep.
When you made that decision...
Did I know what I was doing? No.
No, that wasn't what I was going to ask at all. Were there doubters outside of that kind-of
circle?
Were there teachers trying to encourage you to do something else? To keep following your
education or take some time off? Or did they know this was your future?
It was probably mixed. Some teachers you could see were quite interested in it, because I
was going away, racing, quite a bit.
So I did miss quite a bit of school in my last year. I was racing in Asia at the time.
So flying back and forth.
Some teachers were interested and, "Oh, okay, how's it going? That's cool, you know. Fascinating."
Others just couldn't see it. "Race cars? What are those? Silly race cars?"
"You should be applying yourself at school and all that."
But yeah, I wouldn't say many of them gave me a hard time. They were quite cool. Or,
they just didn't really care.
They were just sort-of, "Yep, you do your thing and I'll just keep doing my job and
looking after the rest of the kids."
Well the thing is you still have things to learn once you... you can't just leave school
and then jump right into F1 racing.
I'm assuming here.
What is the educational path you took to get to where you are today?
Travel. Living away in terms of...
Obviously, school wise, I finished in Year 12, but then at the end of that year I went
to Italy.
But for me travelling, living alone, having to sort of look after myself was, I thought,
really valuable for me.
I was quite immature as a 17-year-old.
Leaving home I didn't feel I was ready for it. But I knew it was a crucial time, as a
race-car driver, you've got to start quite young.
It was like I couldn't really wait any longer.
I had to really throw myself in the deep end. Yeah, like learning how to just cook in another
country.
It taught me how to speak better Italian.
I mean, there was one example where, this is how much I didn't know at all, how to look
after myself.
I'd just been in Italy a few weeks. My parents had just gone back home. They came with me
for two weeks to help me set up.
Then came back to Australia and left me on my own.
There was a thunderstorm outside and I had to do a load of washing.
So I called mum and was like, "Mum, there's lightning and thunder outside, can I use the
washing machine, or will I get electrocuted or something?"
That's a good question.
You don't want to regret that.
She just started laughing. She's like, "You've got a lot to learn kid."
I've grown up a lot, since just living alone and being forced to just make the most of
a situation in a foreign country, was a good thing.
I think you learn from your mistakes. Do you have any regrets from your teenage years,
or again, did it all kind of work out okay?
Yeah, I would say no regrets.
Sure, you look back and you're like, "Wow, I was immature or I was an idiot."
You know, like at school, I would joke around a lot and I was like, "Yeah, I should've been
more serious at times."
But I think it's all part of growing up and as you said, you do learn from your mistakes
and I feel that's something I've always been a strength of mine.
If I have done something that was out of line, or messed up, I learn from it.
I will take, let's say, constructive criticism and try to put it to good use.
That's part of life, you know? It is fun to make mistakes, as long as you learn from them.
I think that's the most important thing.
Absolutely. I mean, that's a great piece of advice, but do you have a thing you live by;
a piece of advice you'd want to pass along to any young people who, maybe who feel like
you.
They're a bit fidgety in the classroom; they know that their talents are maybe out in the
sporting field or wherever it might be.
What would you kind-of say to them?
You've got to find something you enjoy doing. You've got to do something you love, I believe.
I couldn't think of doing a job that I didn't love after experiencing all I have with this
sport.
So, for me it's like, in a way, if you've got to get out of your comfort zone a little
bit, then do it.
If you feel there's gonna be a long term gain, in terms of your happiness and life; lifestyle,
then go for it.
That's good advice. Thanks so much for your time today.
No worries. You're welcome.
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