Despite trying to work out a new deal with Red Bull Racing, Daniel Ricciardo also made his team wait in order for him to see if he could land a seat at either Mercedes or Ferrari.
Unfortunately for him, Mercedes is likely to retain both Hamilton and Bottas in 2019, while Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel will be paired to either Kimi Raikkonen, his current teammate, or Sauber’s 20-year old phenom, Charles Leclerc, reports Autosport.
“It’s obviously looking more likely I’ll probably remain, but there still hasn’t been any pen to paper,” said Ricciardo. “[I’m] still trying to get a few last things sorted.”
“Not every door is closed, but it’s looking more and more likely that the other top teams will probably remain with their line-up. I don’t have the facts on that, but you kind of just read between the lines and you feel that’s probably going to remain.”
The Aussie driver also admitted that Ferrari and Mercedes were the two most attractive options, aside from Red Bull, and without any movement on that front, it would be hard for him to be talked into racing for anyone else other than his current team.
If you went by results alone, Ricciardo has proven this year that he can out-race either Raikkonen or Bottas. Currently, the Red Bull driver is fourth in the 2018 Driver Standings, trailing Raikkonen by just 10 points, which is impressive seen as how the Finnish driver has a faster car. As for Bottas, he has two points fewer than Ricciardo, while driving arguably the best car on the grid.