I have found myself thinking about legacies in recent months.
Growing old does that to a person. Children grow, parents age, and one day you look in the mirror and do not recognize the person staring back at you. Gone is the young college freshman, or even the fresh-faced professional ready to take on the world. Instead, staring back at you is a middle-aged man, with more wrinkles than he would like, more grey hairs than he would care to admit, and a lingering thought of what he will leave behind.
Mortality comes for us all, but in a way, athletes face two endings. There is the one at the end of this journey we call life that is common to us all, but there is the other when your time in a sport, a sport that you have loved from the first moment you experienced it, comes to an end. Few athletes, if any, experience that ending in the best way possible. Few are those who get to go out on top, at the pinnacle of their sport.
For most, the ending comes more painfully, when you start to realize — or finally accept — that your time has passed.
In my case, the official end to what was my football career came on a November Saturday in Middletown, Connecticut, on the day of my final college football game. But in reality, the end had come well before that, when a bruised body put through over a decade in the game stopped reacting the way I needed it to, and a weary shoulder worn out due to thousands — if not millions — of passes was left shredded inside, and no longer had the juice.
And a spot on the depth chart lost to another young college freshman more than happy to take my place.
In that moment you also wonder what your athletic legacy will be, as you try and stave off the inevitable end that you know is coming.
Today, the Red Bull organization announced that a switch was coming at Visa Cash App RB F1 Team. In is Liam Lawson, driving alongside Yuki Tsunoda.
Out is Daniel Ricciardo, leaving behind a career filled with race wins, memorable moments, and perhaps something much more.
An even bigger legacy.
So many stories have been written, and so much has been said, about the rise in popularity of Formula 1, particularly in the United States. Inevitably, arrows point back to the Netflix docuseries Drive to Survive as the launching point, as the series brought fans old — and new — behind the scenes and into a world previously untouchable. Older fans caught a deeper glimpse into the strategy and machinations behind the pit wall, while newer fans were introduced to the personalities, exotic locales, and pageantry of one of the world’s fastest sports.
The first season of Drive to Survive, the one that propelled it from Netflix curiosity to a global phenomenon? It focused in main part on Ricciardo, the end of his days at Red Bull, and his shocking decision to leave the team and move to Renault for the 2019 season. His trademark smile and gargantuan personality powered the first season, setting the stage for the show’s popularity, and the sport’s growth.
That fateful decision may have been the moment Ricciardo’s racing legacy — with respect to his on-track success — took a turn. He left a team on the rise, and seven Grand Prix victories, behind to bet on Renault. But following two seasons and just a pair of podiums with Renault Ricciardo was on the move again, this time to McLaren.
While Ricciardo enjoyed one more climb to the top podium step while in papaya, winning the 2021 Italian Grand Prix, it looks as if that was his final day in the sun, and his last F1 podium.
There may be more racing days left in Ricciardo’s future. His popularity all over the world, and in particular the United States, could open the door to a move to IndyCar or even NASCAR, where you would think fans — and the sports themselves — would welcome him with open arms. Having tried his hand at commentary during last season’s The Grandstand with Daniel Ricciardo and Will Arnett, his personality and personality could translate flawlessly to work in front of the camera.
Or he could, as his former teammate Max Verstappen put it ahead of the Singapore Grand Prix, just go live on the farm back in Australia.
Whatever Ricciardo decides to do next, he leaves behind a racing legacy filled with glorious moments in the sun, and a racing legacy that puts him in the race class of F1 drivers: A multiple-time race winner. A legacy that sees him go into the books as one of the most daring brakers in the sport, willing to put it all on the line into a given corner.
But there is more to his story, his legacy, than those accomplishments. He also opened the door for millions of new fans to the sport and was the spark that propelled the worldwide growth of F1 through the vehicle that is Drive to Survive. He helped bring the sport to a new generation of fans, and helped spark growth of F1 in places like the United States, where now three races host the world’s best drivers each season.
He even helped spark a new generation of content creators, giving them the idea, the promise, and the hope that they too could be part of this fascinating world. Including one former athlete whose own playing days had left him behind in a much different sport.
Many athletes leave their sports behind with stories to tell. Stories of victories, of accomplishments, of moments in the sun.
Few get to leave their sport behind having transcended it, having helped propel it into a worldwide phenomenon.
That too is Daniel Ricciardo’s legacy.
