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Daniel Ricciardo says he was “thrown by the timing” of Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari switch announcement, and comments on being a candidate fot a Mercedes seat.
When asked to comment on Lewis Hamilton’s shock 2025 move to Ferrari, Daniel Ricciardo said the timing of the announcement was more of a surprise to him, than the mere fact that Lewis signed with the Italian team.
“Not surprised in the sense that, could I have ever seen him in red? Yes,” the Australian told RACER.
“I could see in his career and the legacy piece and all of that, of course. And obviously, it’s a good team, so he’s got a chance of winning there, for sure.
“But I was just more thrown by the timing, I think. Obviously I don’t know the internal stuff that goes on there, so obviously there’s reasons why it got announced as early as it did.
“But that part was what threw me more than him going to Ferrari.”
Since Mercedes now has a full year to go with Hamilton, Ricciardo said the team is in a good position to find a perfect candidate to fill Lewis’ seat in 2025.
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“I look at Mercedes now, they’ve got a whole year to figure out what they’re going to do. And I assume in their position, they’re in no rush.
“So they’ll assess everyone, how they’re doing, the driver market, whatever. So I guess for someone like them, it’s probably a good position to be in.”
Ricciardo has been one of the names mentioned in connection with Mercedes’ vacant seat, but he says he does not want to get caught up in rumours.
“I am by no means looking that far ahead. In this part of my career, I think looking far ahead kind of feels like one year closer to the end.
“So it’s more reason for me to be present now and definitely take it race by race. So yeah, silly season, part of me is also happy to not be in all these crazy things, especially this early in the season.
“So if the silly season happens without me, I’m also OK with that right now!” he concluded.
