Motorsport boss Toto Wolff has appeared to close the door on any chance of Daniel Ricciardo joining Mercedes in 2019.
The Australian is out of contract at Red Bull at the end of the year and impressed massively with his victory last month at the Chinese GP, passing both Ferrari’s and both Mercedes’ on the way.
Recently, he has been rumoured to be in talks with the Scuderia but has previously made his wish clear to race alongside Lewis Hamilton, that desire though is seemingly falling on deaf ears at Brackley.
“We are not looking at drivers outside of Mercedes at the moment because, first of all, we need to give our support to our two guys, that’s the priority,” said Wolff late last week.
“It’s like if you’re happy with your wife, you don’t look elsewhere! We are with our two wives – or three [Force India driver and Mercedes junior Esteban Ocon] – and we are not looking at that.”
His comments essentially seem to suggest that a new deal for Hamilton is likely despite constantly being delayed and also Valtteri Bottas remains firmly in the Austrian’s good books following strong performances in the first four races.
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Having said that, Toto admits it is still too early to make a decision on whether any driver changes will be made.
“Give us a few more races, start the European season properly, go to Canada and then the intense July, and I will have a better view,” he added.
In addition to Ocon, Mercedes also has former Sauber driver and current reserve driver Pascal Wehrlein and F2 racer George Russell as alternatives, with the latter potentially set for a jump to F1 next year should he perform.
