Daniel Ricciardo is eyeing the dirt.
Fresh off a dust-caked outing at Ford’s Raptor Rally around Lake Havasu, the eight-time grand prix winner says the “itch” to try the Baja 1000 is very real — even if he knows he’s at the foot of a steep off‑road learning curve.
“Monaco is incredible, but today’s jump was incredible,” Ricciardo grinned after sampling a Ford T1+ with co-driver Mitch. “I definitely got more than I bargained for, but it was freaking awesome. The itch for Baja is there, but I’ve got a lot to learn. A few more of these events and then ask me next year and we’ll see where I’m at!”
If you’ve followed Ricciardo’s career, none of this sounds out of character. The Australian has always chased the feeling as much as the result, and he’s never been shy about crossing disciplines if it means getting that buzz back. His F1 tally — eight wins in 257 starts between 2011 and 2024 — tells one story. The other is that every one of those victories, bar the famous McLaren win at Monza in 2021, came in Red Bull machinery. At his best he was box-office: elbows out, grinning through the visor, and sending divebombs from improbable distances like they were a personality trait.
But after making his final F1 start at the 2024 Singapore Grand Prix and yielding his Racing Bulls seat to Liam Lawson for the last six rounds, Ricciardo called time in September and pivoted to a new life as a global racing ambassador for Ford — the company that’ll partner Red Bull on its 2026 power unit project. In his retirement letter he practically wrote a love note to the Ford Raptor, and the Lake Havasu outing felt like the first proper date.
“For me, it’s all about having fun,” he said. “That’s always been my approach. In my racing career, I think people related to me because they saw how much joy I brought to it and the competitive side was almost secondary. I just wanted to enjoy it. I’m taking the same approach with this new role. It’s a completely fresh start.”
Baja, of course, isn’t a casual day trip. It’s a body-and-machine breaker — a thousand miles of saw-toothed desert, booby‑trapped whoops and pitch-dark navigation. Plenty of circuit stars have been humbled when they step off the asphalt. Fernando Alonso gave it a proper crack in the Dakar Rally during his 2020 sabbatical and even he ended up barrel‑rolling a Hilux on Stage 10 before salvaging 13th overall. The point: the Baja dream is romantic until the first rock garden bites.
That may be exactly what’s pulling Ricciardo in. His best moments in F1 were built on feel and confidence, not spreadsheets and wind tunnel deltas. The rawness of desert racing — reading the terrain at speed, managing fatigue, respecting the car — taps into something he’s always embraced.
There’s another thread to this next chapter too. Ricciardo’s not just chasing thrills; he’s helping shape the next wave. He’s backing a Ginetta Junior Scholarship that will identify two teenagers for assessment across fitness, media work, driving and racecraft, with a fully funded 2027 Ginetta Junior Championship seat up for grabs for the winner. It’s a smart play: open doors for kids who need a platform, and do it in a category embedded on the British Touring Car Championship package — a place where proper racers are made.
So where does that leave the Honey Badger in 2025? Not on the F1 grid — but not exactly gone, either. He’s hovering at the edges of the sport he lit up, carrying the same energy into something noisier, dustier and arguably purer. Baja isn’t a signed contract, just a glint in the eye. Still, anyone who’s watched Ricciardo follow an impulse knows how this story tends to go: find a seat, strap in, send it.
If he does turn up in the desert next year, don’t expect the full F1 circus to follow. Do expect a driver who knows himself far better than he did a decade ago, looking for fun in a place that dishes it out the hard way. And if he sticks the landing? Well, that grin will say the rest.
