Ricciardo proves why he should be Mercedes' next driver

Daniel Ricciardo might not have picked up the podium finish he was after at the Australian Grand Prix, but he left Melbourne having delivered arguably the race's most impressive drive and perhaps catching the eyes - and ears - of one or two potential suitors along the way.

Australia remains without a home grand prix winner, but the odds of that happening next year might already be shortening.

After taking a ridiculously harsh grid penalty on Thursday, which he correctly surmised was lacking in any common sense, Ricciardo was one of only three drivers to make an overtake after the first lap on Sunday, Nico Hulkenberg subject of a typical dive-bombed effort in the new DRS zone early on.

Just as the VSC played into the hands of race-winner Sebastian Vettel, it did too for Ricciardo, who was bumped up to P4 after his team-mate Max Verstappen and Fernando Alonso pitted inopportunely.

Kimi Raikkonen proved one obstacle too many in the pacey Ferrari, but Verstappen's struggle in handling a chase of Kevin Magnussen and subsequent spin paints Ricciardo's fruitless pursuit in a kinder light - as does him going home with the fastest lap of the race.

Besides, if the Scuderia and Mercedes hadn't already had their attention caught by Ricciardo over the weekend, they weren't listening hard enough.

After Lewis Hamilton bolted around Albert Park in record time to take pole by six tenths from Ferrari, Ricciardo's response was an interesting one.

"I think he's very good - but I think obviously their car and their package is too good," Ricciardo said of Hamilton.

"It's not to discredit Lewis, not at all. But I think even him at 90 percent with that package that they had today, he still would've got pole.

"So that's where it's like, I feel any of us top guys obviously could've made that happen [in the Mercedes]."

That last line is the key one. Judged in some quarters to be bitterness, perhaps it should be seen from a different angle - remember that Valtteri Bottas had just wrecked the sister Mercedes in the walls at turn one.

'Put me in that car, and I'll deliver you a lap just like that.'

If Ricciardo's intention this year is to put himself in the car that gives him the best chance of victory in 2019, forget any upgrades Renault might be capable of, or Honda for that matter, and don't put too much emphasis on Sunday's result, he has to be targeting Mercedes.

Not only will they retain power advantages in these times of settling technical regulations, but theirs is also the most attainable seat.

Raikkonen will always hold great sway at Ferrari, particularly from a team-mate that values his attributes as a rear gunner.

Bottas, on the other hand, is far from secure. His mid-season wobble in 2017 would have cost him his seat if viable alternatives were available and his lapse in qualifying here suggests that he might not be handling that pressure all too well.

His performance relative to Hamilton, particularly in qualifying, is one of the biggest intra-team deficits on the grid and makes something of a mockery of Mercedes 'two number-one drivers' policy.

It would appear that Ricciardo might have already sensed that, and one imagines he would relish an on-track battle with Bottas in 2018 to really grab the Silver Arrows' attention.