MOTORSPORT: How Ricciardo might get to Mercedes

The race is on for the plum Mercedes Formula 1 seat vacated by Nico Rosberg, with Finn Valtteri Bottas firming as favourite – but Australia’s Daniel Ricciardo perhaps a chance.

Despite Ricciardo being contracted to Red Bull Racing for another two years, the BBC’s chief F1 scribe Andrew Benson has raised a scenario in which the dominant team of the hybrid era could snare the 27-year-old, four-time grand prix winner.

Ricciardo would be a marketing dream for the German car company, something Lewis Hamilton and Rosberg have not been, and apart from giving the West Australian his best shot at a world title it could be much better long-term for him to be aligned to a luxury brand rather than an energy drink.

Benson rates Bottas – the same age as Ricciardo but yet to win in 78 GPs – the favourite to replace the reigning but suddenly retired world champion Rosberg.

He points out that Mercedes motor sport boss Toto Wolff has long been part of Bottas’ management circle and that he could “sweeten” the Mercedes-powered Williams team to release the Finn.

But Benson says of Ricciardo: “The Australian was the choice of many observers as the driver of 2016, and Wolff is a big fan.

“The on-track battle with Hamilton [in the other Mercedes] would be intense, but Ricciardo is a laid-back character and would probably be easier to handle off it.

“But he is under contract to Red Bull until 2018. Red Bull says they have no intention of letting him go, but if Wolff approached them there is just the possibility that they may consider selling Ricciardo.

"Why? Because most accept that, long term, Ricciardo and Max Verstappen is not a sustainable line-up – if Red Bull become title contenders their relationship is very likely to become incendiary.”

TheF1 paddock’s best-informed journalist, German Michael Schmidt, wrote last week (before Rosberg’s shock exit) that Red Bull’s existing line-up “can face a lot of trouble next year. Ricciardo will not accept any more strategies which favour his teammate. He will make his point and that might cause trouble”.

Ricciardo said at the weekend that the vacant Mercedes seat is “an amazing Christmas present” for whoever gets it, without saying whether he covets it – although pointedly he added: “Hopefully I’m not best of the rest forever”.

He said that, whoever is signed as Hamilton’s teammate (and it will be before the end of the year, perhaps by Christmas), will be getting a huge opportunity to fight for the world title next season.

Benson says of Bottas: “Wolff has a long relationship with him as part of his management team and rates him highly.

“The Finn has impressed in the last four seasons with Williams and would be a low-maintenance choice. He would deliver solid results on track and is calm and would not rock the boat off it.

“Next year is the last year of his contract at Williams. The team is not the most flush with cash in the pit lane and Wolff would almost certainly be able to put together an attractive deal – either for a cash payment to release Bottas or a reduction in Williams’ engine fee.

“But Williams have an 18-year-old rookie in the well-resourced Canadian Lance Stroll in their other car next year and need experience in the lead car.

“Wolff could offer them Mercedes protege Pascal Wehrlein, [a German] who raced for Manor (the team that finished last in the constructors’ championship) in 2016, in exchange. But would Williams accept?”

Multiple world champions Fernando Alonso and Sebastien Vettel are probably out of calculations because of their contracts with McLaren-Honda and Ferrari, with Mercedes probably preferring a rising star to partner triple champion Hamilton.

The 19-year-old Verstappen is off-limits, but Red Bull could look at promoting young Spaniard Carlos Sainz Junior as his teammate – he performed admirably against the Dutch sensation when they were together at Red Bull’s junior team Toro Rosso – if they let Ricciardo go.

Other possibilities are the tall German Nico Hulkenberg, who has driven with the 1.6-litre Merc hybrid power plant for three seasons but signed with Renault’s factory team for next year, and Mexican Sergio Perez, who has stuck with Force India-Mercedes but probably has the best get-out clause of any F1 driver.

Renault and Mercedes are friendly and Wolff probably could arrange to extract Hulkenberg if he wanted him, while Perez is quick, experienced and brilliant at handling his tyres – a star waiting to shine in a top team.

Will Brown going places in a hurry

A teenage star has emerged on the Australian racing scene this year – Will Brown.

The 18-year-old won the Australian Formula 4 Championship, was runner-up in the national Formula Ford series (to Leanne Tander), and now has won the first Toyota 86 series.

That latest triumph came after a pile-up in the second of three races for the 86s at the last Sydney 500 which eliminated guest drivers Matthew Brabham and Alex Davison and made it impossible for Brown to be overhauled.

Nonetheless he won the final race of the series – his fifth consecutive victory in it and seventh of the season.

Brown is from Toowoomba, like Australia’s IndyCar star – and 2014 champion – Will Power, and the first Australian F4 champion Jordan Lloyd, who this year raced in the US where he was fourth in the F2000 Championship won by West Australian Anthony Martin.

Brown is off to the US today to trial for that series next year, while the Supercars development series and Porsche Carrera Cup on home soil are other – perhaps more likely – options for him.

At the other end of the age spectrum from Brown, 64-year-old John Bowe clinched a fifth Touring Car Masters title at the Sydney 500 – driving a Holden Torana after having been synonymous with Fords during his heyday in touring and V8 Supercars.

Kiwi Bamber takes Webber’s place at Porsche
New Zealander Earl Bamber is retired Australian Mark Webber’s replacement in Porsche’s World Endurance Championship team.

Bamber, 26, won the 24 Hours of Le Mans for Porsche last year in a third, one-off entry for that French classic with Brit Nick Tandy, also brought into the full-time line-up in the 919 Hybrids next season, and German F1 driver Nico Hulkenberg.

The trio did not get to defend that Le Mans crown with cost concerns keeping Porsche and its rivals, Audi and Toyota, to two LMP1 cars each at the La Sarthe circuit this year, with Bamber and Tander reverting primarily to racing GT Porsches in America.

But Bamber now will partner Webber’s co-drivers of the past three seasons, fellow New Zealander Brendon Hartley and German Timo Bernhard in one of the two 919 Hybrids full-time in the WEC.

Tandy joins Swiss driver Neel Jani, one of this year’s WEC champions and Le Mans victors, with German Andre Lotterer recruited as the third man in that 919 following Audi’s withdrawal from WEC racing.

Porsche dropped another German, Marc Lieb, and Frenchman Romain Dumas despite them having partnered Jani to the WEC and Le Mans successes this year.

Dumas is expected to drive GT Porsches next year, while Lieb is tipped to be given a non-racing role in Porsche's customer racing program.

The upgraded 919 Hybrid won’t be unveiled until March 23 at the WEC prologue, to be held at Italy’s Monza for the first time.