MOTORSPORT: Decision day looms for Ricciardo

Daniel Ricciardo’s future is the hottest topic in Formula 1 as the sport returns to France after a decade’s absence, the start of five grands prix in six weeks.

And who Ricciardo races for next year is likely to become known in that time, perhaps sooner rather than later.

Red Bull Racing’s decision this week to switch to Honda power units for 2019-2020, while retaining sponsorship from Aston Martin (which is entertaining ideas of building F1 engines from 2021) after 12 years – and four (2010-2013) of consecutive world titles – with Renault has turned the spotlight sharply on Ricciardo.

Sebastian Vettel leads this year’s world championship for Ferrari by one point from Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes, with the F1 world now wondering ever more intently whether Ricciardo could be the teammate of one of those four-time world champions next season.

RBR wants to retain the carsales.com.au global ambassador as teammate to 20-year-old Max Verstappen, who it already has on a huge long-term deal.

But Ricciardo, who will turn 29 on July 1, has to feel assured that whichever team he drives for beyond this season gives him the best chance of fulfilling his dream of becoming world champion.

Whether Honda can return RBR to its former glory? Whether Ferrari or Mercedes, if either create a vacancy, are a better alternative?

There are options too if he wanted to stick with Renault power – either at McLaren, which is making a big play for him, reportedly offering at least $US20 million (more than $A27 million) a year – or the French manufacturer’s factory team, which is showing strong improvement half way through its second year of this incarnation.

The reality though is that Ricciardo’s best chance of being world champion would be at Ferrari.

The Italian team, the most successful in F1 history, is finally on terms with Mercedes in this era of V6 hybrids and the time for it to pension off Kimi Raikkonen has come.

Vettel may not welcome Ricciardo, remembering how he was outclassed by the Aussie at RBR in 2014, but Ferrari has shown, in disposing of Fernando Alonso that year, that it won’t allow its stable to revolve around just one driver, no matter how talented.

Charles Leclerc, a 20-year-old graduate of Ferrari’s junior academy and with just seven GPs under his belt with Sauber (now virtually a satellite team of Ferrari), is constantly touted as Raikkonen’s successor and Vettel’s next teammate.

But Ferrari’s history is of hiring drivers with experience and extensive ‘track records’. Unless the key decision-makers at Maranello lose their way like those at McLaren, Ricciardo is their man.

He’s raced in F1 for seven years and has won seven GPs – just two less than Mark Webber in a much longer career (and more competitive car for much of it).

Two of Ricciardo’s victories have been this year – in China and Monaco. He is the only driver to have stood on the top step of the podium this season apart from Vettel and Hamilton.

He is fourth in the championship, just two points behind Hamilton’s teammate Valtteri Bottas, who may keep his seat at Mercedes (largely because he’s managed by the team principal, Toto Wolff).

Verstappen is 34 points behind Ricciardo, while the Aussie’s advantage over Raikkonen is 16 points.

RBR has pretty much left Ricciardo alone until it sorted its engine deal. He expects the team in which he’s spent 4½ years since succeeding Webber, and whose energy drink parent company has supported his career for a decade, will want to discuss his future in the next week – and perhaps want a decision within a couple of weeks, even if that is not his timeframe.

RBR team principal Christian Horner has said Ricciardo has made it known he doesn’t want to sign anything until Hamilton formally puts pen to paper with Mercedes, where terms between those parties are pretty much agreed.

The ‘boy’ from Perth who became known as the Honey Badger has long made it clear that his decision will not be influenced by the money on offer, but rather “to get a car that can win the world title, because I really believe I can”.

Ricciardo discussed his situation overnight at the Paul Ricard circuit, between Marseille and Toulon and which this weekend hosts its first GP since 1990. (France’s more recent GP venue was at Magny-Cours, much closer to Paris).

“It is easy to think the grass is greener [by moving on from RBR],” Ricciardo said.

“Maybe it is. I also have it pretty good where I am.

“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. I 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 the Honda power now, so I’m just trying to add it all up in my mind.

“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.”

So McLaren or perhaps Renault?

“I’m not going to say it [going to a team not yet winning but perhaps with the potential to return to greatness] doesn’t interest me at all – probably more because what Lewis was able to do with Mercedes [having walked away from McLaren, then Mercedes-powered],” Ricciardo said.

“Those two teams 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. 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.”

Ricciardo said that, for RBR, “probably in the next two weeks would be ideal” to know whether he is staying or going.

“They want to start to move soon now [having sorted next year’s power units],” he said.

“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 [offer] 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 [northern] summer break knowing what I’m doing so I can enjoy the 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 [northern] summer would be nice. It could happen sooner.”

So what is the key to the decision?

“To get a car that can win the world title, because I really believe I can,” Ricciardo said.

“That’s the first thing in my mind. If there was no possibility then, for sure, you look into other things.

“As a driver, I feel like I’ve done enough now.

“Lewis touched on it [in a press conference], 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.”

Wherever Ricciardo drives next year, he said it would be the second most difficult decision he has had to make in life.

The hardest?

“Leaving Australia (in his mid-teens) and coming to Europe when I still didn’t really know what my talent was and I didn’t really believe then I was good enough.”

Beaming that famous smile, Ricciardo said he now knows that talent “is big enough” – which is why he has the F1 world at his feet.