Daniel Ricciardo says he can’t rule out switching teams when asked about Ferrari’s interest in him as a possible candidate to replace Kimi Raikkonen.
Ferrari’s driver line-up for 2016 and beyond has been the subject of much speculation, with Raikkonen yet to agree a new deal on the back of a tough start to his season.
Former team-mate David Coulthard recently viewed his opinion, saying it makes sense for the Italian team to replace him with someone younger. Whilst Coulthard mentioned both Valtteri Bottas and Nico Hulkenberg, Ricciardo too would be a prime target.
When asked if he would be interested if Ferrari were to approach him, he said: “What I want is to win, basically. That’s a lot of my frustration this year, because of that. We’re not in a position to win, and as a driver that’s really the only thing you want,” he told reporters including Grand Prix Times during a Red Bull event on Tuesday.
“With contracts, this and that, it’s not as easy as saying, ‘Yeah, I’ll go to Ferrari, and that’s that’. There are things in place, and from my understanding of contracts it’s not likely that I can get out.”
The Australian is confident in Red Bull’s ability to bounce back, but couldn’t rule out a change in teams particularly amidst the Austrian outfit’s threat to quit, but ultimately admitted it would be unlikely.
“I really feel that Red Bull can make a change for next year and can get back up the front,” he said. “We’ve still got good people in the team, and the right ingredients to do it, it’s 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’s obviously nice to be recognised by a team like that. I’ll take it as a compliment, and we’ll see what happens.
“I’ll probably never rule anything out completely,” he added. “Things can change, anything can change. Obviously Dietrich [Mateschitz] said some things in the press as well and you never know what’s going to happen. As I said, it’s unlikely.”
