Who's in pole position to succeed Vettel at Ferrari?

Daniel Ricciardo - heir apparent?

As to who gets to replace Vettel in that plum Ferrari race seat, the leading candidate must surely be his former Red Bull team mate Daniel Ricciardo. Those chances would climb exponentially if it turned out that Vettel had decided to stay in F1 after all, and accepted an offer putting him at Renault.

Ricciardo has been sending clear signals for some time now that Renault is not adequately delivering on the promises that made him switch to the team at the end of 2018. Even his boss Cyril Abiteboul has acknowledged that keeping Ricciardo beyond his current contract with the squad is problematic. The only thing holding the Aussie in place has been the lack of a suitable gap opening up elsewhere on the grid; a humbling return to Red Bull was one of the few options bandied about.

The only thing holding Ricciardo in place has been the lack of a suitable gap opening up elsewhere on the grid.

Until now, that is. The vacant seat at Ferrari is what Ricciardo has been hoping, yearning and dreaming for. And now it's right there in front of him, finally within his grasp. If Ferrari bosses did come calling then it's hard to see Ricciardo saying no to almost any terms that Maranello might have in mind.

The ebullient Ricciardo would be the ideal character for the Italian team. But at the same time, Riccardo left Red Bull in the first place because he felt the team was backing the young Max Verstappen over him. A similar situation at Ferrari where Charles Leclerc is the undisputed golden boy is hardly a position he would willingly put himself in.

It's probably Ricciardo's last roll of the career dice in terms of his hopes of winning the F1 world championship, so he'd better get it right if the chance does come his way.