Daniel Ricciardo has bluntly claimed he would be faster than Valtteri Bottas if he drove for Mercedes.
The Australian has previously revealed he made contact with the German manufacturer in 2018 about replacing the Finn, this before joining Renault as he sought an exit from Red Bull.
And after he watched Lewis Hamilton beat Bottas to a sixth world title in Austin, Sky Sports teasingly asked Ricciardo if he thought he would have been more competitive against the Briton.
“I won’t sugar coat it: I’ll say yes,” he replied. “That’s because I have that belief in myself. It’s not targeted at Valtteri or anyone else in that car who didn’t win.”
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After the US Grand Prix, Bottas put some of his defeat down to the mid-season uncertainty over his Mercedes seat for next year, as rumours linked Ricciardo’s 2020 teammate Esteban Ocon to his place.
Noting those comments, team boss Toto Wolff suggested that would change his approach on driver decisions to avoid any repeat.
“There are better ways to go about it, and in hindsight, he said maybe it did have an impact,” he told Germany’s Sport.de.
“I will take that into account and try to do a better job in the future.”
Interestingly, however, the Austrian is already admitting 2020 could be an even tougher year for preventing distractions.
“In 2021 all the doors are open: none of our drivers have contracts with the team, so it will be a very interesting situation,” he added.
“I expect the driver carousel will start spinning soon!”
Bottas did get some support though from fellow Finn and double world champion Mika Hakkinen.
“I have always said that teamwork is an essential part of Mercedes’ formula for success, and on a weekend when Lewis clinched the world championship it was great to see such a strong and impressive performance from Valtteri Bottas,” he wrote for Unibet.
“He really owned this year’s United States GP, taking a very good pole position on Saturday and driving a perfect race on Sunday to optimise the team’s strategy and secure the victory.
“Valtteri has now won four Grands Prix in 2019, and taken second place in the world championship – his strongest season so far, and a great indication of the progress he has continued to make.
“It was also good to see how happy team boss Toto Wolff was to have Valtteri winning the race and Lewis securing the championship.
“Toto knows that he has the strongest driver combination in Formula 1 at the moment, and the team can now start to focus on continuing that success in 2020. I am sure Mercedes will again be the team to beat.”