Hamilton Welcomes Idea of Ricciardo as Teammate

After the US Grand Prix, Daniel Ricciardo declared that he would like to race Hamilton in the same car. The Australian has impressed in his Red Bull this season but is still way off the pace of Drivers’ Championship leader Hamilton. Hamilton responded to the Aussie’s comments. He said he’d welcome the chance to have the Aussie alongside him. “Daniel is a fantastic driver, it would be a privilege to race against him,” said Hamilton. “He’s a great character, he always brings a lot of positivity within his team. In other words, Hamilton welcomes the idea of having Daniel Ricciardo as a teammate.

Hamilton said “I think it’s interesting, I think it’s cool, I take the compliment that people say they [want to race against me]. I don’t truly necessarily believe that people want to be up alongside me, because that is not always necessarily the best thing for an individual. But in some cases, it could be a really good thing because it can help you grow. You look at Daniel, he’s got a great driver in his team-mate, and to be honest, he has got to really work to outperform him first. You’ve always got to beat the person you’re with first before you can look at competing against someone else and beating them – that’s just my personal opinion.”

Hamilton is just one race win away from a fourth world title. All he needs is a result in Sunday’s Mexican Grand Prix to fend off Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel for good. Valtteri Bottas still has one year remaining on his Mercedes contract. But Hamilton isn’t too worried about who could join him for 2019. He said that Bottas is great driver and he enjoys racing with him. He would be happy to race against a number of great drivers. Lewis doesn’t even mind who he races against as long as the team harmony is maintained. He also hopes to battle with other teams.