Daniel Ricciardo: Renault and McLaren F1 teams have 'some appeal'

While Red Bull is keen to keep Ricciardo on board when his contract ends this year, he has been linked to Mercedes and Ferrari.

Renault also tried to sign Ricciardo during the engine deals reshuffle last year, while a possible McLaren bid for his services was reported this week in German media.

Ricciardo has stressed that his priority "was to try and get a car that can win the world title" but when asked whether he had any interest in building a team like McLaren or Renault around himself, he admitted it was an intriguing option.

"I'm not going to say 'no, it doesn't interest me at all'," he said. "Probably more because of what Lewis was able to do with Mercedes.

"Those two teams [McLaren and Renault], they're not quite in that position yet but could they be? Maybe.

"The thought of that, it has some appeal. I wouldn't say it's probably top of my list right now, but I also wouldn't dismiss it.

"Obviously McLaren and Renault aren't there today, but maybe they will be there in a year or three years' time."

Hamilton shocked F1 with his move from perennial frontrunner McLaren to the then-young Mercedes team back in 2013, but his new employer subsequently dominated F1's hybrid era and he has since won three more titles.

"Lewis pulled the trigger pretty well," Ricciardo joked. "Whether he fluked it... he says that he really knew it was going to happen, I don't know.

"Obviously he's done well for himself with that move. So whether it's just a fantasy for everyone else, I don't know. But at least there's a little bit of proof that something like that could potentially happen again."

Drawn on the specific reports of the McLaren bid, Ricciardo stressed he had not been "presented anything" but reckoned interest from there would be logical.

"I'll be honest, obviously everyone's talking about Mercedes and Ferrari for potential places for me to go but I'm aware that there's obviously going to be interest from other teams - and I guess McLaren is probably one of them," he said.

"Probably depends as well on what Fernando [Alonso] does, if he stays, if he goes. If he does go, then I guess, yeah, they'd probably want a more experienced driver to come in."

Red Bull's newly-announced 2019 Honda engine switch is another factor Ricciardo is weighing up.

"It was something I was in a way already trying to prepare for or calculate in my mind," he said.

"Just going to try and understand a little bit more about it now that it's definitely happening, and just to try and keep putting the pieces together if it's a good move.

"There's certainty a lot of pros. Just trying to add it all up, really, in my mind."