Red Bull prepared to let Ricciardo leave

Red Bull are prepared to let Daniel Ricciardo leave the team if he wants a fresh challenge in Formula 1 next season. Both Mercedes and Ferrari are reportedly keen on signing the Australian when his Red Bull deal expires at the end of 2018.

Ricciardo is likely to be the major player in the driver market this season, with Valtteri Bottas and Kimi Raikkonen both out of contract at Mercedes and Ferrari respectively.

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has expressed his desire to keep hold of Ricciardo, who has won five grands prix since replacing compatriot Mark Webber in 2014.

Sebastian Vettel said on Thursday that he would welcome linking up with Ricciardo again at the Scuderia.

Ricciardo is thought to be keen to secure a seat which gives him the best chance of race wins, and Mateschitz accepts that the driver holds the cards in the negotiations.

Asked if the Australian will stay put, Mateschitz told Salzburger Nachrichten: "You'll have to ask him that.

"After a long collaboration, probably everyone is looking for a new challenge, especially if a top team is offering.

"We'll let him go if he wants, but we'll be happy if he stays. And if he leaves, we have good guys at Toro Rosso. But all of this is a problem for later."

Max Verstappen has suggested that Red Bull's straight-line pace will still be "painful" at the Australian Grand Prix, despite Renault's reported gains over the off-season.

Mateschitz is confident that the team have made progress in terms of power unit and chassis heading into a 2018 season in which they have been tipped to challenge Mercedes and Ferrari, by the Silver Arrows and Scuderia themselves.

"We think we are closer to the top than last year. In both chassis and engine," said the billionaire.

"We don't know much about what Mercedes did over the winter with the engine, but if we are within half a second, we can catch up with our drivers and our chassis."

Motorsport adviser Helmut Marko hinted this week that Red Bull could switch to Honda engines in 2019 after the Japanese supplier's impressive pre-season with Toro Rosso.

Marko suggested he was "learning Japanese", but Mateschitz was more guarded on any future deal.

"We have to see how the season develops," he said. "We don't know our speed in qualifying mode yet, even if it looks good over a race."