Daniel Ricciardo has revealed he twice thought his Formula One career was over before it ever got started.

The Australian Renault ace sat down with former on-track sparring partner Nico Rosberg in an interview that also brought forth the mind games of Michael Schumacher and Ricciardo opening up on his time at Red Bull.

That time though very nearly did not happen according to Ricciardo, who recounted what it was like to be an Australian teenager moving to the other side of the world to chase an unlikely dream.

“I was living in an apartment in a small town in Italy of about 1000 people, with an average age of probably 97,” said Ricciardo, of his first year abroad.

“No internet, no nothing, so my days consisted of waking up and going to the gym, eating lunch and sleeping. Then I would race on weekends, which made it all worth it.

“2007 was the first year I moved to Europe, we had enough funding that year as my dad built a business over his life so that paid for the majority but to do a second year with a bit more of a budget was going to be tight.”

That was when Red Bull came into play and Ricciardo knew it was where he wanted to go. He just had to catch the team’s eye, and catch it the young Aussie with the unmistakably Italian surname did.

“I got an email at the end of 2007 inviting me to their program, and the answer of course was yes,” he told Rosberg. “You get five laps to show what you’ve got.”

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Ricciardo was targeted by Helmut Marko, the non executive head of Red Bull and the man who picks all their drivers, but in 2010 he almost blew it all and had to have a phone call that to this day gives the Perth-born star chills.

“At the start of 2010, it was my first season in world series by Renault, and I was coming into the season as one of the favourites,” Ricciardo said.

“I had a crash on my mountain bike and fractured my wrist.

“I knew I couldn’t do the test but I did the outlap and went straight to the pits.”

It was the end of the test for Ricciardo.

“My phone rings and Helmut asks ‘what happened?’ I said I would be ready for the start of the season then there was a lot of silence and then ‘you’re an idiot’ and he hung up.”

It wasn’t the first time the Aussie thought he was done though as a childhood incident had him thinking he would never make the big time, let alone race again due to disappointing his dad.

“I was in practice and he had taken a day off work and he was still trying to build his business and working 6-7 days a week,” he said.

“He had taken a day off work and I just sat behind these two guys fighting in practice.

“I wasn’t there. I was just there to be there and so he — his look — I was like ‘he’s pissed’.

“As soon as we got back to the trailer he put the kart straight in the trailer and we drove home, no words, no nothing and I remember calling one of my friends that night and I said ‘at practice today I was not really there and I think I’m done. I think my dad is not ever going to let me race again’. I thought my career was done and I would have been 11.”

Thankfully for Ricciardo and all of us he continued to drive and thrive as the entertaining F1 star we now know.