Hamilton is champion because of his car - Ricciardo

Red Bull racing driver Daniel Ricciardo has had a cheeky swipe at newly-crowned F1 champion Lewis Hamilton, claiming that the Englishman would not have won the title in three of the last four season if he was not behind the wheel of the Mercedes.

Hamilton's dominance in recent years has only been stifled by team-mate Nico Rosberg in 2016, and this season he comfortably collected the title in Mexico with two races to spare, with Mercedes also winning the constructor's championship.

But Ricciardo has attempted to provide a ratio of driver skill to car ability and he believes that the difference between the drivers is not as high as people may think, with the strength of the Mercedes a major factor in Hamilton's success.

The Aussie said: "Lewis has won three of the last four championships but if he was in a midfield team he wouldn't have three of the last four championships.

“The car is a big part of it, but you need to be a good driver to get the equipment to the top. You need both. It's still a bit more dominant with the car than the driver, I'd say maybe 75 per cent to 25 per cent.”

Ricciardo also added that with the new regulations set to be introduced in the coming seasons by owners Liberty Media, he hopes that more onus will be placed on the driver rather than the speed of the car.

He continued: “If we make it a bit more equal by bringing the driver in a bit more and taking the equipment out then that would be better.

“50/50 would be something more realistic in the near future and hopefully that's the case. Even from Lewis to the guy that's coming last, maybe the lap time says three seconds but the driver is maximum one second.

“We are all a lot closer than that and it would be great if we could all stay within one second with the equipment."

Ricciardo will team with Max Verstappen once again behind the wheel of the Red Bull for the 2018 campaign.