Daniel Ricciardo Once Revealed Why His F1 Job Is Keeping Him Away From Having a Family

Last season during the US Grand Prix weekend, Daniel Ricciardo was asked on ‘The Drew Barrymore Show’ if he wanted to start a family of his own. The Aussie driver responded positively but confessed that the hectic schedule of Formula 1 is holding him back from doing so.

“Yeah, I would like to…” Ricciardo told Drew Barrymore. “Why I hesitate with answering it, a little bit is my job, I travel so much that I would want to be there I guess like, I don’t want to miss things growing up. I feel like once my life settles if it ever does, that would be a more appropriate time.”

The life of a Formula 1 driver is pretty difficult. While the season is on, they have to travel around the world to a new country/city almost twice or thrice in a month with only a few days of gap between race weekends. But even when they’re not actively taking part in racing, they are busy keeping themselves fit.

Even once the season is over, they have to keep pushing to keep themselves in the best shape possible, which leaves little time for anything else, let alone starting or spending quality time with their families.

And in recent years, the number of races per season has been going up significantly with 2024 being the longest F1 season in history (24 races), which makes it even more difficult for drivers these days to make time for anything significant except going on a short trips when they get a break for a weekend or two.

There have been many drivers who have openly spoken about the struggle with either starting or keeping up with their families.

Many have sacrificed a family life for the dream of winning a championship

Lewis Hamilton has perhaps achieved more in Formula 1 than any other driver in history, however, even close to the age of 40, he remains single and has no plans of starting his family as long as he stays in Formula 1.

And even for those who have a family, it’s difficult to maintain a close relationship because of the hectic schedule. Before their retirement, Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen also spoke about how they wanted to spend more time with their family.

Nico Rosberg also confessed that he got so mentally involved in trying to beat Lewis Hamilton for the title in 2016 that he used to miss being around his newborn.