RICCIARDO’S NEXT MOVE
Verstappen’s struggles have been emphasised, and perhaps to some extend prompted, by the quality of the job being done by Ricciardo in the other Red Bull.
While Verstappen generally has a small advantage on one-lap pace, Ricciardo has excelled in the races; as F1 Racing went to press, after six grands prix, Ricciardo was level on 2018 wins with Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel. He may edge into championship contention, especially if a Renault engine upgrade due for the Canadian Grand Prix lives up to expectations.
“VETTEL WOULD ALMOST CERTAINLY PREFER NOT TO BE PARTNERED AGAIN BY THE MAN WHO OUTPERFORMED HIM WHEN THEY WERE TEAM-MATES AT RED BULL
Ricciardo’s success is having a positive effect on his standing in the sport, which was already high. But whether it changes anything with regard to his widely discussed contractual situation is another matter.
He is out of contract at the end of the season and has made no secret of the fact that he is looking at his options. Red Bull want to keep him, but Ricciardo is keen to take his time to find a seat that will enable him to satisfy his ambition to become world champion.
In theory, there are potential seats available at Mercedes, where both Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas are out of contract, and Ferrari, where Kimi Räikkönen’s deal ends this year, too.
In reality, Mercedes does not look a realistic option. Hamilton’s contract is taking time to finalise but both he and team boss Toto Wolff have repeatedly insisted there is no reason to think he will not stay on, and that it is only a matter of time before agreement is reached.
Wolff has said he will give Bottas until mid-season before he thinks seriously about whether to replace him. This also gives Wolff time to judge the performance of Mercedes-contracted Esteban Ocon alongside Sergio Perez at Force India.
So far, Bottas has performed well and would be much more of a factor in the championship had it not been for bad luck in China (where a Safety Car cost him victory) and Azerbaijan (likewise a puncture). Bottas was less convincing in Monaco, but if he can keep up his general level of performance, there is no obvious reason for Wolff to disrupt the harmonious dynamic between his two drivers. Ricciardo, though, might be a serious option if Wolff feared for Hamilton’s long-term commitment.
At Ferrari, Vettel is said to be pushing for the team to retain Kimi. Despite insisting publicly that he “wouldn’t mind” Dan as a team-mate, Vettel would almost certainly prefer not to be partnered again with the man who outperformed him when they were at Red Bull in 2014.
Ferrari are understood to have not yet given serious thought to their driver options, and some sources close to the team say they want to take more time to see how Vettel shapes up in the title fight with Hamilton before making a call on his team-mate. Last year a couple of high-profile errors harmed Vettel’s chances, and if Ferrari see evidence of the same again – such as his lock-up in Baku which turned a win or second place into fourth – they may be more open to the idea of Ricciardo.
Otherwise, Räikkönen, who is performing strongly this season, could well be retained, or they could go for Charles Leclerc, who is Ferrari-contracted and increasingly turning heads in his debut season with Sauber. If Ferrari decide 2019 is too early for Leclerc to be promoted, the Monegasque could well move to Haas, another Ferrari-affiliated team, where Romain Grosjean would probably make way for him.
Grosjean’s future in F1 is looking shaky after a poor
start to the season. Before the Canadian Grand Prix, he had failed to score any points, been out-performed by team-mate Kevin Magnussen, and made two embarrassing errors in crashing behind the safety car in Baku and causing a multiple pile-up in Barcelona.
The other big question in the driver market concerns the future of Fernando Alonso, who has an option to stay at Mclaren but is free to go elsewhere. His performances are more than good enough to suggest he should be a contender at both Mercedes and Ferrari, but he is not because of his history with both teams.
Realistically, Alonso’s options are to stay at Mclaren or more actively pursue his goal of the ‘triple crown’ of winning the Monaco Grand Prix, Le Mans and the Indianapolis 500. Or possibly both.