Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo has a big decision to make regarding his future Formula 1 drive once his contract expires at the end of the 2018 season.
The Australian has been part of the Red Bull family since the start of his career with whom he has won seven grand prixs and finished 22 on the podium, but is yet to win the coveted world championship title which his former teammate Sebastian Vettel managed to.
Now with an option to move on, Ricciardo faces a big dilemma. The strong form is a boon and a roadblock as well since the bigger teams may not want to have two volatile racers at the same time, thereby limiting his chances.
With both Mercedes and Ferrari seemingly happy with what they have, it leavs Ricciardo with few options to choose from – either stay at Red Bull or opt to move on with McLaren or Renault, a move which he reckons will be similar to Lewis Hamilton’s 2014 decision.
The British driver made a bold move to switch from McLaren to Mercedes when the hybrid era kicked in, which now can be termed as a masterstroke on Hamilton’s part with him winning three more titles with Mercedes.
Naturally, Ricciardo has that in his mind as well. “Everyone is talking about Mercedes and Ferrari as potential places for me to go but I’m aware there is going to be interest from other teams,” he said.
“There is part of it [switch to McLaren/Renault and wait for the title opportunity] which is. I’m not going to say it doesn’t interest me at all. Probably more because what Lewis was able to do with Mercedes.
“If you’re saying those two teams, they are not quite in that position yet. But could they be? Maybe. The thought of that, it has some appeal. I wouldn’t say it’s top of my list now. But I wouldn’t dismiss it also.
“Lewis pulled the trigger pretty well [by choosing the right time to join Mercedes]. Whether he fluked it or not, he did well for himself with that move. Whether it’s just a fantasy for everyone else, at least there is some proof something like that can happen again.”
Of course his next move will be dependent on whether he could win the title with whichever team he chooses to align with. The 28-year-old feels it is not the money which will drive him at this stage of his career, but title prospect will.
“That’s [title] the first thing in my mind,” he said. “If there was no possibility than for sure you look into other things. As a driver, I feel like I’ve done enough now. Lewis touched on it [in Monaco], I didn’t even need to say it.
“The value…your value as a driver, it’s not about X amount of money, it’s just what you feel your value is and what you bring to the sport. I feel like I hold a certain value so I want to match that with my kind of expectations and what people value me as.”
Red Bull has pulled the trigger by confirming the Honda deal earlier this week, leaving the ball in Ricciardo’s court. Considering the difficult return for the Japanese manufacturer, it is being said that Ricciardo could jump ship but he doesn’t want to for the sake of doing it.
“People do like a change,” he said. “That’s always appealing. But just to make a change for the sake of making a change, that won’t be enough for me. I need to find some substance behind it if I’m going to jump ship.
“[Don’t want to] burn any bridges because you never know where the sport will take you. If I do move on from Red Bull, I never want to criticise them. I’ve had it pretty good. There’s certainly a lot of pros with [Honda], so just trying to add it all up in my mind.”
The decision though has to come in at least by the summer to give both the driver and the team a chance to work around the future. And most certainly, it looks like all will fall in place before the summer break.
“Probably in the next two weeks would be ideal for them,” he said. “They want to start to move soon now. I haven’t been pushed yet but I would say yeah. There will be a bit of movement in the next week.
“Whether that something gets put down on paper….For sure the discussions will start to ramp up the next seven days. For me, it would be nice – even if it’s a while away – to go on the summer break knowing what I’m doing so I can enjoy the summer break.
“If I’m on the phone for two weeks of the August break still trying to figure out my future, that won’t be that good. For me to switch off as well. From a personal point of view, by the summer would be nice. It could happen sooner.”
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