Ricciardo would not swap Red Bull for Merc

Over the past three seasons Mercedes have dominated Formula One.

Lewis Hamilton claimed both the 2014 and 2015 titles, whilst Nico Rosberg managed to narrowly clinch the 2016 crown.

The German’s title win will be remembered for being a rather fortunate World Championship victory, as noted by our current frontpage poll.

He may well have scored the most points over the 21 Grand Prix, but it was decided on car reliability rather than driver ability, as Hamilton suffered a string of failures during the season.

Rosberg then ultimately announced his immediate retirement from the sport, opening up a prize seat on the Formula One grid.

Unfortunately for Mercedes, the timing has meant that whilst most drivers would jump ship to join Mercedes in a heartbeat, none are in a position to do so.

Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso are both locked into water tight contracts at Ferrari and McLaren respectively.

Daniel Ricciardo, Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz are all locked up at the Red Bull stable.

But even if he could get out of that deal, Australian Daniel Ricciardo believes Red Bull Racing is the place to be long-term.

‘I wouldn’t be surprised if nearly everyone had been in contact with them he told motorsport.com.

‘whoever ends up getting that seat, I think they should appreciate it very much because it’s not every day someone gets that kind of opportunity.

‘Whatever happens, I hope we’ll be up there fighting with them and that Max [Verstappen] and I will be smiling that we’ve got long deals with Red Bull.’