3 F1 driver career resurrections Daniel Ricciardo should take inspiration from

Daniel Ricciardo's career has taken a severe downturn ever since he joined forces with McLaren. The Australian was considered one of the best drivers on the grid when he joined the team. After a year and a half with the team, Ricciardo was unceremoniously dropped and replaced by a rookie.

The situation right now is so bad that the Australian does not have a seat for next year with only six races left this season. There are even rumors that Daniel Ricciardo could take a sabbatical from the sport for a year and return in 2024. At 33 years old, this might look like the career is over for the Australian.

Having said that, in the history of the sport, there have been drivers that have been able to resurrect their careers from the point of no return. These drivers were able to hit the lowest of lows in the sport and then resurrect their careers in a way that was not only credible but admirable as well. These are the drivers that Daniel Ricciardo needs to take inspiration from at this stage of his career. Who are these drivers? Let's find out!

3 F1 Drivers Daniel Ricciardo can take inspiration from

#1 Kimi Raikkonen

Kimi Raikkonen's career hit the lowest of lows when a fairy tale start to life at Ferrari with a world championship in 2007 turned south. The driver's performance dipped and by the end of the 2009 F1 season, he was paid by Ferrari to not drive for the team.

Raikkonen was out of the sport for two years but then made a return to the grid with Lotus. The team took a punt on the Finnish driver's talent and in the very first season back, it paid off. Raikkonen finished the season 3rd in the championship with 7 podiums and a memorable win to his name.

So impressive were his performances that Raikkonen would once again get signed by Ferrari on a very lucrative contract in 2014 after getting fired by the same team in 2009. In many ways, Daniel Ricciardo is in the same situation as well. His career nosedived as soon as he joined McLaren. Just like Raikkonen, there's no attractive seat available for the Australian as well. If Kimi Raikkonen could do it in 2012 when he returned to F1, Daniel Ricciardo could do the same as well.

#2 Sergio Perez

Daniel Ricciardo did recently reveal that Sergio Perez had reached out to him for a few words of motivation. On the grid, if there is any driver that understands what Daniel Ricciardo is going through, then it is the Mexican. It might be a bit hard to look at Perez's current status as a Red Bull driver and assume that he was close to being shunted out of the sport TWICE in his career.

If it wasn't for his on-track dedication and achievements, he might have turned into an afterthought like so many other drivers. The first jolt came for Perez when he was unceremoniously dropped by McLaren after just one year in 2013. Paddock's consensus was that the Mexican was treated harshly by the team and it left Perez going into the winter break with no seat confirmed for the 2014 F1 season.

Fortunately for the Mexican, Force India took a punt on him and picked him up. The car was a strong midfield contender, and Perez scored multiple podiums with the team. The second jolt came in the 2020 F1 season when Aston Martin/Racing Point replaced Sergio Perez with Sebastian Vettel.

It was once again a scenario of Perez not having a seat for the next season when he suffered a DNF at the 2020 Abu Dhabi GP. It was out of the blue that Sergio Perez got the call from Red Bull and there was no looking back after that. Daniel Ricciardo needs this perseverance at this stage of his career. He needs to put together the best possible display and hope that a good opportunity knocks on the door, just like it did for Perez.

#3 Romain Grosjean

Romain Grosjean is a driver who went through so much in his career that it sometimes seems unbelievable how he was able to become a permanent driver on the grid for almost a decade. The French driver made his debut in 2009 with Renault in what could be the worst possible circumstance.

The team appeared to be on its last legs and he had Fernando Alonso as his teammate. Grosjean was thrashed around by the Spaniard, meaning that the French driver was not only out of the sport, but he was also driving in the junior category again.

Grosjean persevered, won the GP2 title, and once again made a return to F1 with Lotus. This time around he was much better prepared but his carelessness led to far too many first-lap collisions at the start of the race. His career hit the lowest of the low when he caused a multiple-driver collision at the 2012 F1 Belgian GP.

The collision led to a one-race ban and Grosjean's future was in jeopardy. If he messed up again from here, he would find himself kicked out of the sport for good. It was at this point that Grosjean started turning things around. The driver cut down on the aggression to an extent and started focusing on consistency.

He came into his own in the 2013 F1 season with Lotus when he scored 6 podiums and was very close to winning in the United States GP. It was from this point on that Grosjean became a permanent fixture in F1 and was part of the grid until he moved to IndyCar in 2021. Grosjean was able to show tangible improvements in his career that ultimately helped him prove to everyone how good he really was. Most importantly, he never gave up trying to prove that he belonged in the sport.

Daniel Ricciardo can seek inspiration from these drivers and prove his worth to everyone.

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