Ricciardo opens up on his past Ferrari talks

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Charles Leclerc and Daniel Ricciardo battle.

Charles Leclerc and Daniel Ricciardo battle at the Red Bull Ring. Austria July 2021

Daniel Ricciardo has revealed the extent of the discussions he has had with Ferrari in the past about joining them.

With him being one of the best drivers on the grid in recent times and also half Italian, the McLaren man has been linked with a move to the Scuderia on a number of occasions.

Nothing has ever come from such links though, with him heading to Renault and McLaren after leaving Red Bull and Ferrari themselves signing Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz.

He says that the two parties have spoken in the past, but discussions have never reached an advanced stage.

“A while ago, yes,” he told the Italian branch of Motorsport when asked if he’d ever spoken with the Scuderia.

“But we never sat around a desk with papers to sign, nothing like that. There was some small talk, some quick conversations, but we never got to the point where we talked about contracts.

“So, there was something but we never got to a second step.”

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Ferrari’s strongest years in recent times came in 2017 and 2018, when Sebastian Vettel challenged Lewis Hamilton for the title on both occasions.

That was also around the time that Ricciardo started to think about leaving Red Bull, with him eventually doing so at the end of 2018, and he says that it was during this period that he considered a move to Maranello most.

“In my head, it was one of the options, especially when the team was fighting for the championship while Seb was there, the team was in a good position,” he added.

“So Ferrari and Mercedes were the first two teams to be evaluated outside of Red Bull, they were the only truly desirable teams, but I always tried not to be influenced too much by emotion, knowing my Italian origins.

“I have some photos of me as a child with a Ferrari t-shirt, obviously a gift from my father. They are a fantastic team, I respect them a lot, if mutual needs had intertwined it would have been nice,

“But I must also say that my dream was to be a Formula 1 driver one day, and I am still very happy with what I have done. and to be where I am today.”