MOTORSPORT: Hamilton deal done – now for Ricciardo

Daniel Ricciardo told Red Bull Racing long ago he wouldn’t sign anything for 2019 until it was 100 per cent certain what Lewis Hamilton is doing beyond this year.

Well, Hamilton and Mercedes have agreed what was long anticipated – a contract extension.

It’s only for the next two seasons though. The three-pointed star manufacturer would have preferred to lock the British four-time world champion, who has scored all 65 of his Grand Prix victories with Mercedes power (initially at McLaren), in for five years.

The indications for several weeks have been that carsales.com.au global ambassador Ricciardo will stay at RBR. Team chiefs Helmut Marko and Christian Horner certainly think so, and Ricciardo has as good as said so.

There was never any realistic prospect of Hamilton leaving Mercedes, and the German marque is pretty much certain to retain Valtteri Bottas too – especially as he is managed by Merc team principal (and 30 per cent team owner) Toto Wolff.

At Ferrari, the only other team better than RBR in this Formula 1 era of V6 hybrid cars (especially now), Sebastian Vettel is contracted until the end of 2020.

The choice of Vettel’s teammate next season appears to be between the ageing Kimi Raikkonen, who hasn’t won in 4½ years back in the Italian stable, and Charles Leclerc, an outstanding 20-year-old but with only half an F1 season under his belt at Ferrari satellite team Sauber and yet to endure the inevitable rough patch.

Vettel has repeatedly made it clear he’s happy with Raikkonen and overnight was glowing about Leclerc, from Monaco and who has been groomed by Ferrari through its junior academy and placed at Swiss-based, Scandinavian-owned, Alfa-Romeo-sponsored Sauber.

“Charles, one way or the other, will have a great career. He is a great guy, he is fast, he’s got everything,” Vettel said.

“Definitely, he has no [need to] rush. He is young, but if you are young you are always in a rush with everything.

“I don't know when, what and ultimately who [will be Ferrari’s other 2019 driver], but it doesn't really matter to me.

“For me it is clear where I am next year, but I think both of them would suit the team.”

It is a mystery that Ricciardo is not in the Ferrari equation.

Early in the season there were reports that the Prancing Horse had taken an exclusive option on the Australian, a seven-time GP winner only recently turned 29 and renowned as the best overtaker in the sport.

Then there were reports that Ricciardo was too expensive for the Fiat/Ferrari bean-counters, although he has always made plain that the size of his pay cheque is not his top priority – he simply wants a car in which he can win the world title.

And since when has money been a problem at Maranello anyway?

Instead of Ferrari going for equal No.1s – the newer of them, of Italian heritage, having upstaged the other, already a four-time world champion before the one season they had together at RBR in 2014 – it seems Ricciardo is not in its calculations.

Unless, and it may be wishful thinking, the Italians have kept an ace up their sleeve.

Vettel also said last night: “It is not for me to mention (who he wants as teammate) or to decide.”

Vettel is leading Hamilton by eight points (171-163) going into the 11th round of the 21-GP season, the German race at Hockenheim this Sunday, and Ferrari heads Mercedes by 20 points in the constructors’ championship (287-267).

While Ferrari has undoubtedly made a big step forward this year, Mercedes has had the worst of the luck and might soon be back on top.

If Ferrari really wants to regain the supremacy it feels is its right, might Sergio Marchionne and Maurizio Arrivabenne yet spring a surprise and pair Vettel with the man best qualified to be his teammate next year.

Again, we admit it’s very wishful thinking at this stage.
Without that fairytale outcome, it seems Ricciardo will have to settle for staying put, with Max Verstappen as his teammate and a Honda power plant in the back of an Adrian Newey chassis next year.

Christian Horner claims the victories Ricciardo had in Shanghai and Monaco this season with Renault power could equally have been achieved with the Honda unit already in the cars of RBR’s junior team, Toro Rosso.

Ricciardo faces the prospect of starting well back in the field at Hockenheim on Sunday because of a penalty as he likely needs a new MGU-H (motor generator unit - heat energy recovery system).

But, as always, he’s optimistic. “If I do have to start towards the back there will be some good overtaking,” he promised.

And he feels his RB14 will be well suited to Budapest’s Hungaroring the following Sunday.

The bigger concern is the machinery he has to work with next year.

If it’s not to be a red Ferrari, confirmation of an extension at Red Bull could come quite soon.