Do we like them?

Do we like Daniel Ricciardo?

Our score: 7 out of 10. Decent record and real good done, but one tone-deaf answer on Saudi Arabia keeps him short of the top.

Ricciardo is the Aussie driver the paddock seemed to universally like, and the Order of Australia agrees: he was made a Member in 2022 for significant service to motor sport as a competitor and ambassador, and to the community. These days he has stepped away from racing and works as a Ford ambassador.

The mark against him is Saudi Arabia in December 2021. Asked about human rights there, including LGBT+ rights, he said he doesn't watch the news and that some people call that a bit ignorant. A fan page, social media users and PinkNews-reported critics said claiming ignorance wasn't good enough, and that's a fair knock.

On the harm check, that's the lot we found. We turned up no campaigning against LGBTQ+ people, women, migrants or the planet from him, no conspiracy slide and no dodgy company on the record. It's a gap in speaking up rather than a pattern of saying nasty things.

The only real legal scrap was in 2019, when his former manager sued in London's High Court seeking a share of his Red Bull to Renault move. It was a money dispute, not a conduct one, and the two settled with the terms undisclosed. In January 2020 he also raffled a signed race suit for the Australian Red Cross and WIRES wildlife rescue during the bushfires. Nothing new and controversial has turned up lately beyond his Ford and fashion collab work.