Daniel Ricciardo Reacts After Earning a Spot in the 2022 Australia Days Honours Amidst Successful F1 Stint

Back in December 2021, seven-time world champion, Lewis Hamilton, received a knighthood at Windsor Castle in England for his services to the motorsport community and other social causes. And now, only a month later here’s Daniel Ricciardo earning the deserved recognition from his home country, Australia.

The McLaren driver, hailing from Western Australia, found his way into the Governor General’s 2022 Australia Day Honours List. Along with Ricciardo, only six other members have earned this recognition for reasons related to motorsport.

As for the Honey Badger, the recognition is for “significant service to motorsport as a competitor and ambassador, and to the community.” Hence, Ricciardo was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM).

He also took to Instagram to reveal the same. “Just happy flying the flag for Australia. Really appreciate the recognition. You can take the boy out of Oz but you can’t… Anyway haha big thanks to everyone,” he wrote.

This was always coming for Ricciardo after his debut McLaren stint in 2021. Of course, the start certainly didn’t look impressive enough, especially while his teammate, Lando Norris, was in top form. However, following the summer break, his season took a wild turn, as he began to churn out decent results, including the race victory at Monza.

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Other F1 drivers who’ve earned AM along with Daniel Ricciardo

According to Motorsport, Ricciardo is only the third Australian driver to earn the AM honor, after his Red Bull predecessor, Mark Webber, and former world champion, Jack Brabham. Other motorsports heroes include Craig Lowndes, Mark Skaife, and Peter Brock.

This year, quite a few sports personalities managed to find themselves alongside Ricciardo; Tennis player, Dylan Alcott (Office of the Order of Australia), basketball player Patty Mills (AM), and footballer Sam Kerr (OAM).

Coming to motorsports, Terence Bracken and Leslie Power received OAMs for, “service to the motorsport industry” while Ian Tate earned recognition for “service to historic motorsports.”

Kay De Luca and the late Anthony De Luca received honors for “service to motoring clubs, and to the community.” And finally, Ian Digby received OAM for “service to the community, and to the motor industry.” Overall, a glorious start to the year for Ricciardo, and it almost looks like it could get better from here for the Australian.

McLaren are certainly one of the favorites to claim one of the top 3 spots in the constructors’ championship this season. And with Ricciardo’s form on the rise, it could only be a matter of days before the British outfit embrace a magical campaign after years of disappointment.

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