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Why Daniel Ricciardo is best friends with NFL hero Josh Allen and a Buffalo Bills fan

Originally posted on HITC | By Shay Rogers | Last updated Jan 12, 2026 11:00 AM ET

Daniel Ricciardo has been absent from the Formula 1 grid for just over one year now, and it looks set that he won’t be making a return any time soon.

An eight-time race winner, the Australian driver sadly never got the chance to compete for a championship.

He drove for Red Bull between two eras of dominance, and made the ill-judged decision to join Renault in 2019, where he achieved little.

Their project didn’t expand as he hoped, which resulted in him going to McLaren, before dropping off the grid altogether at the end of 2022.

He was back courtesy of ex-team AlphaTauri (formerly Toro Rosso) in 2023, when Red Bull needed some help, but he failed to rediscover his old form across the 12 months after making a comeback.

Shortly after being dropped by Racing Bulls (also formerly AlphaTauri and Toro Rosso) midway through the 2024 campaign, he made one of his first public appearances at Highmark Stadium, Buffalo.

The reason? To cheer on NFL MVP quarterback and close friend Josh Allen in an important divisional match-up against the Miami Dolphins.

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Daniel Ricciardo met Josh Allen after he ‘fell in love’ with F1 at the Monaco Grand Prix

The Buffalo Bills just punched their ticket to the Divisional Round of the 2026 NFL playoffs with an impressive comeback victory against the Jacksonville Jaguars.

The highlight and clutch moment? Produced by Allen late in the game, who stood in the pocket and absorbed a massive hit on a deep throw to Brandin Cooks to keep the game alive.

Ricciardo, now living a slightly quieter life away from racing, is a big fan of the Bills too. He spoke about how he came to meet Allen in an interview with PEOPLE in 2024.

“It’s so funny. I feel like he’s a big brother, but he’s actually a much younger brother, so he’s the little big brother,” he said.

“I think when he came to the race [2019 Monaco Grand Prix] and saw it at first, he kind of fell in love with it.

“Kind of like in [the film] Step Brothers, the ‘Did we just become best friends?’ thing. And then I very quickly got into the [Buffalo] Bills and the NFL so we just started following each other.”

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What has Daniel Ricciardo been up to since leaving Formula 1?

Ricciardo has been spotted rarely since the last time he climbed into a Formula 1 cockpit at the 2024 Singapore Grand Prix.

Most recently, he appeared in a video in partnership with Ford, where he drove a Ford Raptor in a very sandy, warm environment.

That was just a few weeks ago, and it looked as though he had a lot of fun. Single-seater racing is a chapter of his career that is behind him, as he has revealed himself.

Nowadays he sports a different look. He has grown his beard out a lot and might even be unrecognisable to some fans, but most importantly, he seems to be enjoying himself.

This article first appeared on HITC and was syndicated with permission.

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