Ricciardo Close To Red Bull Deal, Ferrari Yet To Decide On 2019 Pairing

The Formula 1 driver market puzzle is slowly coming together after Mercedes confirmed their racer lineup for the 2019 season.

The Silver Arrows team agreed to a new two-year deal with Lewis Hamilton ahead of the German Grand Prix on Sunday, while that was never a doubt. They also handed Valtteri Bottas a new one-year deal, which was a slight doubt at the start of the season owing to the availability of Daniel Ricciardo.

The Red Bull Racing driver is out of contract at the end of the campaign and revealed he is open to switching teams. With Mercedes out of the running and Ferrari seemingly looking at either Kimi Raikkonen or Charles Leclerc, the Australian is running out of options.

It looks very likely he will remain with his current employers and revealed talks had progressed well. Red Bull are eager to retain Ricciardo, but the driver, even though he is open to staying is unsure if he will be given a championship winning car next season.

Riccardo’s main priority is to win at least one F1 Drivers’ title before the end of his career and with Red Bull switching engine partners in 2019 and moving to Honda is a venture into the unknown for both the driver and the team.

However, after the German Grand Prix on Sunday, the Australian admitted a new deal with the Austrian-owned team is close to fruition. He is keen to have a concrete idea about his plans for next season before the F1 heads into the summer break after Hungarian Grand Prix on July 29.

"It's getting more realistic, I'd say," Ricciardo said, as per Autosport. "The picture with everyone else is starting to be pretty clear, so I'll focus on [this race] and then I guess probably early next week I'll try and get everything done."

"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 added. "If we put pen to paper, then, we'll see, we can take some time."

Ricciardo admitted a potential vacancy at Mercedes in 2020 or 2021 could influence the length of the deal especially since Bottas was only handed a one-year deal by the Silver Arrows team. But any of that will only become clear once he reaches an agreement with Red Bull, which is likely but not a certainty.

"Maybe. 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,” Ricciardo said. "I honestly haven't agreed to anything yet. I won't say any more, I'll shut up!"

Once Red Bull confirm their driver lineup for 2019, Ferrari will be the only frontrunner yet to finalize their pairing for next season. Raikkonen is keen to stay, but reports emerging from Italy suggest the team could promote Ferrari young driver and rising star Leclerc, who has impressed in his debut F1 season with the Sauber racing team.