Ferrari and Mercedes Doors have Closed for Ricciardo

Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo is close to signing a new Red Bull contract. This is mostly because all other avenues, namely Mercedes and Ferrari will not play ball for 2019.

The Australian has spent most of his F1 career under the Red Bull driver programme. But he is out of contract at the end of this season.

At the start of the 2018 season, many linked him to Ferrari in place of Kimi Raikkonen. But with Sauber’s new wonder kid, Charles LeClerc, it is now looking increasingly likely. Mercedes was also rumoured as a potential destination for Ricciardo. However, Valtteri Bottas is expected to be retained once Lewis Hamilton completes a new deal with the team in the coming weeks.

Now, Ricciardo is aware that his options are limited and Red Bull looks like his best option.

“Not every door is closed, but it’s looking more and more likely that the other top teams will probably remain with their lineups,” he said. “I don’t have the facts on that, but you can just kind of read between the lines and you feel that that is probably going to remain.

“So, obviously, if it wasn’t Red Bull, then they are the other two most attractive options; so if they are not possible, then for me now, it is hard to be convinced that another option is better than Red Bull. So I’m just making sure that I’m right with my judgments.”

He was also adamant in not demanding No.1 status over teammate Max Verstappen to sign a new contract. Ricciardo added: “I don’t want that. Not that I don’t want that, I don’t need that.

“Obviously, Max is driving well, but I genuinely think, there have been things every weekend since Monaco, which have just been a bit of a disruption or a bit of bad luck — like the front wing and all that with Paul Ricard, and the DRS at Silverstone.”