Ricciardo: Interest from McLaren F1 for 2019 likely

Daniel Ricciardo has responded to reports of an offer from McLaren to join for the 2019 Formula 1 season by saying the team is "probably" one that would be interested in signing him.

Ricciardo is out of contract with Red Bull at the end of the current season, and is widely regarded to hold the key to the driver market for next season as the highest-profile driver who is a free agent, leading to links to both Mercedes and Ferrari.

A report from Sport Bild in Germany earlier this week claimed Ricciardo had been approached by McLaren for next season, with the team braced for the possible departure of Fernando Alonso to IndyCar, with the Australian confirming on Thursday in France he had seen the speculation.

"I did see it about an hour ago. As far as comments on it, I haven’t been presented anything which says that," Ricciardo said.

"I'll be honest, everyone is talking about Mercedes and Ferrari as potential places for me to go, but I’m aware there is going to be interest from other teams, and McLaren is probably one of them.

"Probably it depends on what Fernando does, if he stays or if he goes. If he does go, they probably want a more experienced driver to come in. We’ll see. There are a lot of things to weigh up. Nothing really to comment on that."

Ricciardo had previously stressed he would only make his decision once Red Bull had finalised its engine supply for 2019, with the team confirming on Tuesday it had signed an agreement to link up from Honda for two years after the end of the season.

"It’s something I was aware of that could happen, so it’s not a complete shock or surprise to me. I was aware it was a possibility," Ricciardo said.

"It was something I was trying to prepare for and calculate in my mind. Now that it’s official, I’m going to try and understand a bit more about it, now that it’s definitely happening and keep trying to putting the pieces together to see if it’s a good move.

"There’s certainly a lot of pros with it, so just trying to add it all up in my mind."

Asked if there was a deadline regarding his future, Ricciardo said it could come as soon as the next two weeks in order to help Red Bull in its own preparations.

"Now that the team has got the engine deal sorted, ideally for them they want something sooner rather than later. Probably in the next two weeks would be ideal for them," Ricciardo said.

"For me personally, it would be nice – even if it’s a while away – to go on the summer break knowing what I’m doing so I can enjoy the summer break. If I’m on the phone for two weeks of the August break still trying to figure out my future, that won’t be that good.

"For me to switch off as well. From a personal point of view, by the summer would be nice. It could happen sooner."