The
Australian’s negotiations with Red Bull have dragged on for some months, but
with Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas now confirmed at Mercedes for 2019 his
most likely alternative has gone.
Christian
Horner said in Hockenheim that he hopes to have the situation resolved soon,
and Ricciardo agrees with his boss.
“It's
getting more realistic, I’d say,” he said when asked by Motorsport.com whether
it was viable to have his future confirmed by the summer break.
“I think
obviously the picture with everyone else is starting to be pretty clear, so
obviously I’ll focus on [this race] and then I guess probably early next week
I'll try and get everything done.”
Asked if it
was his choice to trigger the signing of a contract he said: “The majority, I
would say... The majority.”
With
Mercedes now having confirmed both its drivers, the Ricciardo deal is an
important one for the driver market.
Carlos
Sainz is committed to Red Bull until September 30, but as soon as Ricciardo
signs and there is no race seat at Red Bull, it's believed that the Spaniard
becomes a free agent.
as next
week, before the summer break.
The
Australian’s negotiations with Red Bull have dragged on for some months, but
with Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas now confirmed at Mercedes for 2019 his
most likely alternative has gone.
Christian
Horner said in Hockenheim that he hopes to have the situation resolved soon,
and Ricciardo agrees with his boss.
“It's
getting more realistic, I’d say,” he said when asked by Motorsport.com whether
it was viable to have his future confirmed by the summer break.
“I think
obviously the picture with everyone else is starting to be pretty clear, so
obviously I’ll focus on [this race] and then I guess probably early next week
I'll try and get everything done.”
Asked if it
was his choice to trigger the signing of a contract he said: “The majority, I
would say... The majority.”
With
Mercedes now having confirmed both its drivers, the Ricciardo deal is an
important one for the driver market.
Carlos
Sainz is committed to Red Bull until September 30, but as soon as Ricciardo
signs and there is no race seat at Red Bull, it's believed that the Spaniard
becomes a free agent.
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His
availability could in turn lead to a number of moves quickly falling into
place.
That has
led to suggestions that Red Bull is stalling on making a Ricciardo
announcement, because it has nothing to gain by setting that process in motion
and helping rivals such as Renault to sort out their line-ups.
Ricciardo
implied that as long as he knows that his deal had been agreed and is ready to
be signed, he will be satisfied.
“I’d love
to go on break with everything signed and done, but even if I don’t sign it
next week for example, as long as I know during the break that I know what I
want to do, then I'm happy enough," he said.
"If we
put pen to paper, then... We’ll see, we can take some time.”
Asked if
the potential availability of a seat at Mercedes in 2020 had any impact on the
length of his deal, with Bottas confirmed only for next year, Ricciardo was
non-committal.
“Maybe,"
he replied. "But really not looking at Bottas, just in general, there’s
obviously going to be some changes, I guess within the team as well, so...
We’ll see.
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