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Simple question that a post in another thread got me thinking on:

So Daniel Ricciardo is hugely popular now with fans aplenty, hailed as an upcoming WDC and possible all-time great. The question is to all Ricciardo fans: Were you a fan before 2014, or did you only become one during his brilliant 2014 campaign? If you were one before 2014 could you please include in your post what first sparked you to become a fan?

I'm interested in studying the meteoric rise of a new superstar of F1 from what seemed to me a virtually unknown driver the year before.

I'll start off with my own; I became a fan of Ricciardo in 2014, because of his incredible car control, clever racecraft and genuinely decent-seeming personality, but before that I admit I thought he was nothing more than a special qualifier. When RBR announced their pick to replace Webber in 2013, I thought they'd made the wrong decision; I though JEV was stronger in every area except for qualifying, and would have been the better pick for the big team. I was guilty of not noticing a special driver in the midfield as is all too common, it appears.

I thought he was good in the Toro Rosso putting it in places it should not have been. Last season though was exceptional making Vettel look ordinary.

Exediron wrote:Simple question that a post in another thread got me thinking on:

So Daniel Ricciardo is hugely popular now with fans aplenty, hailed as an upcoming WDC and possible all-time great. The question is to all Ricciardo fans: Were you a fan before 2014, or did you only become one during his brilliant 2014 campaign? If you were one before 2014 could you please include in your post what first sparked you to become a fan?

I'm interested in studying the meteoric rise of a new superstar of F1 from what seemed to me a virtually unknown driver the year before.

I started liking the guy a lot after Australia 2012 (damage on first lap, managed to score pts) and Bahrain 2012 qualy (I think he was 6th on the grid). I always liked his positivism and huge smile regardless of the situation. But it's fair to say that I really started supporting the guy in 2014, the way he straight up outclassed Vettel was a pleasure to watch. Not to mention his racecraft.

He has a number of features that make me proud with his presence since debut:

# He is not poisonous. He is honest both on and off track. He is not fake. Dan does not behave like he is made of something too precious for us.

# Ric does not OWN track while defending or attacking. He doesn't push other drivers off track by crash me if you dare attitude.

#He is mentally strong as a rock. Rosberg has to take photocopies of that book if he can not own one.

# He does not walk or talk like "i am a brand afterall". Dan can hide his ego inside his clothes.

I didn't make a statement about how a fast race driver he is. Because his character outweighs such a precious talent.

Need4Naiim wrote:He has a number of features that make me proud with his presence since debut:

# He is not poisonous. He is honest both on and off track. He is not fake. Dan does not behave like he is made of something too precious for us.

# Ric does not OWN track while defending or attacking. He doesn't push other drivers off track by crash me if you dare attitude.

#He is mentally strong as a rock. Rosberg has to take photocopies of that book if he can not own one.

# He does not walk or talk like "i am a brand afterall". Dan can hide his ego inside his clothes.

I didn't make a statement about how a fast race driver he is. Because his character outweighs such a precious talent.

Well put.

Just being an Aussie is enough for me. How could you not support your countryman? It's just brilliant that he happens to be such a great ambassador for sporting stars in general and he kicks ar$e on track!

Been a fan since he joined and followed his career in Torro Rosso quite closely

Need any proof? Here's the official Ricciardo thread:
http://forum.planet-f1.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=2155

First really became aware of Ricciardo around 2009 during British F3 and started actively watching his career from this point.

Guilty as charged! I was not a fan and had a soft spot for JEV

Dan, to me, was too much of a one lap specialist. A Jarno Trulli of the modern age. It spoke volumes that himself and JEV, who regularly started a mile back, would end up near each other on race day and in the season's final points standings. I understood why Red Bull signed him but at the time I felt Kimi Raikkonen was the better prospect.

Then I got proven wrong in every way, shape and form.

Dan's performances last year were nothing short of remarkabkle. I don't think I need to go on much about it as everyone could see how brilliant he was. Driver of the year without doubt. Only his more ardent fans had a guess that it would have played out as it did against Vettel.

Additionally
a) I took note of how his performances in the Toro Rosso drastically improved once he had been signed to the senior team - that to me was a sure sign that Red Bull had made the right decision (as opposed to Perez having the most dismal end to 2012)
and
b) I wonder how JEV would have gotten on, looking at how they fared together and looking at how their respective careers have panned out? One wonders sometimes

I only became a fan in 2014.
Although not a fan of his smiley face
His racing style reminds me of Schumi. He seems to get the most out of a car and his overtaking and defending is very decisive.
Definitely a future world champion

AravJ wrote:I only became a fan in 2014.
Although not a fan of his smiley face
His racing style reminds me of Schumi. He seems to get the most out of a car and his overtaking and defending is very decisive.
Definitely a future world champion

Oh man, that to me is one of his biggest assets. He is a marketing dream

Need4Naiim wrote:He has a number of features that make me proud with his presence since debut:

# He is not poisonous. He is honest both on and off track. He is not fake. Dan does not behave like he is made of something too precious for us.

# Ric does not OWN track while defending or attacking. He doesn't push other drivers off track by crash me if you dare attitude.

#He is mentally strong as a rock. Rosberg has to take photocopies of that book if he can not own one.

# He does not walk or talk like "i am a brand afterall". Dan can hide his ego inside his clothes.

I didn't make a statement about how a fast race driver he is. Because his character outweighs such a precious talent.

Never thought I would agree with you totally haha
So yeah only became a fan of him in 2014. Before that I thought he would be a younger version of Webber and only good on qualifying day. Boy he got me wrong and I love it! His smiling face is also an asset without being cocky. Let's hope he stays this way.

Read a tiny, tiny report in the Western Australian newspaper in 2006 mentioning a young West Australian driver who was competing in Formula BMW Asia. The article couldn't have been two inches tall. Followed him ever since. Got to meet him in 2009 when he was doing a promotional run in his home town along with Mark Webber - I like to think I was one of the few people that were getting autographs that actually knew who he was and what he'd done. Had a little chat with him, pleasant guy.

Quite satisfied it's all worked out how it has, to be honest.

Been aware of him and following his career since 2008.

backdoc wrote:Just being an Aussie is enough for me. How could you not support your countryman? It's just brilliant that he happens to be such a great ambassador for sporting stars in general and he kicks ar$e on track!

I tired to support Scott Speed but just couldn't do it once he opened his mouth.

Toby. wrote:Read a tiny, tiny report in the Western Australian newspaper in 2006 mentioning a young West Australian driver who was competing in Formula BMW Asia. The article couldn't have been two inches tall. Followed him ever since. Got to meet him in 2009 when he was doing a promotional run in his home town along with Mark Webber - I like to think I was one of the few people that were getting autographs that actually knew who he was and what he'd done. Had a little chat with him, pleasant guy.

Quite satisfied it's all worked out how it has, to be honest.

That's pretty cool

Exediron wrote:I'll start off with my own; I became a fan of Ricciardo in 2014, because of his incredible car control, clever racecraft and genuinely decent-seeming personality, but before that I admit I thought he was nothing more than a special qualifier. When RBR announced their pick to replace Webber in 2013, I thought they'd made the wrong decision; I though JEV was stronger in every area except for qualifying, and would have been the better pick for the big team. I was guilty of not noticing a special driver in the midfield as is all too common, it appears.

Not a Ricciardo fan as such but for me he was the obvious best choice in front of JEV

SehnKhan wrote:First really became aware of Ricciardo around 2009 during British F3 and started actively watching his career from this point.

Yes that's when i first became aware of him it was said at the time that he had brilliant racecraft although we didn't really get to see that in F1 until last year

There are very, very few instances of where I driver was able to make me a fan of him purely through his driving (Alonso in 2012 is the only example I can think of). I can appreciate Ricciardo for what he did in 2014, but no, I'm not a fan. I found his efforts very impressive, but not heroic.

Dans acheivement in 2014 is mind blowing to say the least.Totally outclassing the reigning 4 time WDC in the same team is a feat that no other driver in the history of F1 has a claim to fame to.. I always thought that Dan was a better driver than Webber, and he absolutely proved it last year.

Dan reminded me of Fernando Alonso's driving of the last 11 years with consistent brilliant driving.Time will tell if Dan just hit a lucky spot in 2014 with a car that suited him perfectly,or if he can drive any car to the max like FA year after year.

I think Ricciardo is quite a special driver with every quality it takes to win in F1.Smarts,determination,positive attitude,self beleif,balance between realism and optimism and doing his best at every moment.Talent helps too...

specdecible wrote:Been a fan since he joined and followed his career in Torro Rosso quite closely

Need any proof? Here's the official Ricciardo thread:
http://forum.planet-f1.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=2155

I found this interesting. From that link, posted Sept 2012:

hotbmw wrote:Dan will be in a red bull seat in 2014. A year later Seb will be gone and Dan will be the number 1 driver

purchville wrote:I found this interesting. From that link, posted Sept 2012:

hotbmw wrote:Dan will be in a red bull seat in 2014. A year later Seb will be gone and Dan will be the number 1 driver

Wow, someone clearly believed! I should ask that man for my lottery picks!

I'm an evil poll polluter, HA HA!

purchville wrote:

specdecible wrote:Been a fan since he joined and followed his career in Torro Rosso quite closely

Need any proof? Here's the official Ricciardo thread:
http://forum.planet-f1.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=2155

I found this interesting. From that link, posted Sept 2012:

hotbmw wrote:Dan will be in a red bull seat in 2014. A year later Seb will be gone and Dan will be the number 1 driver

Creepy quote, considering Seb debuted with bmw power.

after I watched him win in Canada, i was a fan.

He's certainly gained quite a few fans over the past year, as tends to happen when an exciting new talent emerges at the front of the field and the cheerful demeanour certainly helps things along too. Success breeds resentment though, and as likeable as he may be I don't think the Ricciardo love-in is going to last. After all, he's not too far different to where Sebastian Vettel was after 2009, and look at what happened there. It just takes a couple of mildly controversial incidents and people will pounce on it.

Became a fan after Melbourne '14.

I don't think he will be an all time great, but I do think he will do great things.

DarkoA wrote:Became a fan after Melbourne '14.

I don't think he will be an all time great, but I do think he will do great things.

Not that i disagree, but how will we know someone is certainly an all time great? For example:

Will Seb be an ATG if he wins title with Ferrari?
Will Alonso be an ATG if he wins title with McLaren?
Will Jenson be an ATG if he beats Alonso this year?

Need4Naiim wrote:

DarkoA wrote:Became a fan after Melbourne '14.

I don't think he will be an all time great, but I do think he will do great things.

Not that i disagree, but how will we know someone is certainly an all time great? For example:

Will Seb be an ATG if he wins title with Ferrari?
Will Alonso be an ATG if he wins title with McLaren?
Will Jenson be an ATG if he beats Alonso this year?

Maybe.
Yes.
No.

Alonso already is an all-time great, he just hasn't got the right number of titles to show for it. Vettel is such an enigma I really can't say for sure, but replicating his success at Red Bull anywhere else would certainly be a step towards that status. He's probably already an all-time great, just not too high up on that illustrious list.

Jenson, much as I like and support him, is not an all-time great, and unless he comprehensively outclasses Alonso that won't be looking to change. It would damage Alonso more than it would help Jenson if it happened, sorry to say. But it won't happen, and that's why Alonso is the great and he's not.

Im not a bandwagon type but he won me over with his attitude this year. I suppose it has been there all along but before he got to red bull I just didnt see much of him.

Why do people insist on doing this to promising young drivers. I certainly can understand thinking he might one day be a WDC, but even that is a stretch as we all know that there is only one WDC per year and in order to be that one, you need to be in a top car and have things go your way... certainly not a guaranteed happening. Does Dan have the skills to optimize the opportunity if he gets it, it certainly appears so... will he get the chance, we can only hope so.

However, what kind of fool is already proclaiming that he will be the All-time Great??? That is the kind of asinine hype that hurt Lewis when he first came up... a fourth of the way into his rookie year we had idiots here in the forum claiming he was an, or even the, all-time great. There was no way that Lewis could live up to the hype and it made it even harder for him when he did make mistakes (yes, Lewis has made mistakes for those who never see them). Daniel is a young driver with considerable skills, but please don't put the pressure on him of being an all-time great this early in his career, it is not fair to him, just as it was not fair to Lewis.

FinsFan wrote:Im not a bandwagon type but he won me over with his attitude this year. I suppose it has been there all along but before he got to red bull I just didnt see much of him.

Ditto here! Definitely won me over with his attitude.

Without live timing apps, etc. it's hard for the more casual, but still avid, fan of F1 in general to sometimes see the talent in the lower teams that don't get much screen time. We of course noticed his qualy and race records against Vergne, but that's always hard to decipher at times when just seeing bits and pieces of it. But he clearly had a lot of eyes opened up at the Red Bull Sr. Team.

I didn't think he was anything special before last year but was glad he did do well as he is the kind of driver F1 needs at the moment. Someone that people can shout for.

Need4Naiim wrote:

purchville wrote:

specdecible wrote:Been a fan since he joined and followed his career in Torro Rosso quite closely

Need any proof? Here's the official Ricciardo thread:
http://forum.planet-f1.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=2155

I found this interesting. From that link, posted Sept 2012:

hotbmw wrote:Dan will be in a red bull seat in 2014. A year later Seb will be gone and Dan will be the number 1 driver

Creepy quote, considering Seb debuted with bmw power.

And also, both "Vettel" and "Ricciardo" are written with letters, how spooky is that?

He became know to be just before he starting driving for HRT and was a fan from then. I think it was his attitude that won it for me. and the

Covalent wrote:

Need4Naiim wrote:

purchville wrote:

specdecible wrote:Been a fan since he joined and followed his career in Torro Rosso quite closely

Need any proof? Here's the official Ricciardo thread:
http://forum.planet-f1.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=2155

I found this interesting. From that link, posted Sept 2012:

hotbmw wrote:Dan will be in a red bull seat in 2014. A year later Seb will be gone and Dan will be the number 1 driver

Creepy quote, considering Seb debuted with bmw power.

And also, both "Vettel" and "Ricciardo" are written with letters, how spooky is that?

looking at your signature, i am not surprised with your finding.

Covalent wrote:

Need4Naiim wrote:

purchville wrote:

specdecible wrote:Been a fan since he joined and followed his career in Torro Rosso quite closely

Need any proof? Here's the official Ricciardo thread:
http://forum.planet-f1.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=2155

I found this interesting. From that link, posted Sept 2012:

hotbmw wrote:Dan will be in a red bull seat in 2014. A year later Seb will be gone and Dan will be the number 1 driver

Creepy quote, considering Seb debuted with bmw power.

And also, both "Vettel" and "Ricciardo" are written with letters, how spooky is that?

Stop you are freaking me out

I imagine the vast majority of fans have come on board in the last 12 months and that's not unexpected. Bit like the quantity of Manchester City clothing I now see being worn in sleepy East Anglia, England.

Blake wrote:Why do people insist on doing this to promising young drivers. I certainly can understand thinking he might one day be a WDC, but even that is a stretch as we all know that there is only one WDC per year and in order to be that one, you need to be in a top car and have things go your way... certainly not a guaranteed happening. Does Dan have the skills to optimize the opportunity if he gets it, it certainly appears so... will he get the chance, we can only hope so.

However, what kind of fool is already proclaiming that he will be the All-time Great??? That is the kind of asinine hype that hurt Lewis when he first came up... a fourth of the way into his rookie year we had idiots here in the forum claiming he was an, or even the, all-time great. There was no way that Lewis could live up to the hype and it made it even harder for him when he did make mistakes (yes, Lewis has made mistakes for those who never see them). Daniel is a young driver with considerable skills, but please don't put the pressure on him of being an all-time great this early in his career, it is not fair to him, just as it was not fair to Lewis.

Totally agree