Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsRed Bull Racing

Ricciardo believes contract rules out Ferrari move

Daniel Ricciardo is flattered to be linked with a move to Ferrari but believes it is "not likely" he can get out of his Red Bull contract.

The Australian impressed during his debut season at Red Bull, winning three races and comfortably beating team-mate Sebastian Vettel who duly moved to Ferrari. With Kimi Raikkonen yet to see his deal extended for next season, Ferrari has a potential vacancy in 2016 and team principal Maurizio Arrivabene hinted at an interest in Ricciardo.

Ricciardo says his priority is to be in a competitive car and believes both Ferrari or Red Bull can provide him with that.

"First and foremost, not talking about contracts or anything, what I want is to win," Ricciardo said. "A lot of my frustration this year is because of that. We are not in a position to win and as a driver that is the only thing I want, at least in this point of my career when I am still young and hungry, and I feel I have still have a lot of potential in me. That is what I want.

"Obviously with contracts, it is not as easy as saying 'yeah I will go to Ferrari and that is that.' There are things in place, and right now it would be, from my understanding of contracts, it is not likely that I can get out.

"But at the same time, I really feel that Red Bull can make a change for next year and can get back up the front. I still think we have good people in the team. I think we still have the ingredients to do it, it is just making that next step – it has to be the right step and I think we can get back up there.

"Going back on the Ferrari thing; it is nice to be recognised by a team like that so I will take it a compliment and see what happens."

Asked if he could rule a move to Ferrari out at the end of the season, Ricciardo replied: "It is a tough one.

"I will probably never rule anything out completely, because I don't have experience with contracts. I haven't been in F1 all that long. I am sure things can change; anything can change. Dietrich said some things in the press as well, and you never know what is going to happen. As I said, it is unlikely but yeah…"

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.