Daniel Ricciardo says he’s not quite ready to commit to a new contract with Red Bull, despite his current deal expiring at the end of the current season.
The Australian scored three race wins for Red Bull in 2014 and is currently 20 points ahead of team-mate Daniil Kvyat.
But a disappointing start to the season has led Ricciardo to hold off on signing a new contract for now.
“We’re talking about it,” he told Sky Italia, “but it depends on how things go this year.
“For sure myself and also the team are not here to fight for seventh place,” he added. “We will have to see what happens over the next few months and work hard to make sure we have better performance.”
However, he might not have to see how things go if Helmut Marko’s warning is anything to go by. The Austrian says both Ricciardo and Kvyat need to watch their backs following a beating by both Toro Rosso cars during qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix.
“Our established guys need to look out,” he told Kleine Zeitung. “Paradoxically, the more inexperienced ones [Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz] did a better job.
“The two of them are something extraordinary,” he added.