Ricciardo expects to resolve future next year

Daniel Ricciardo says he doesn't expect to have significant talks about his future until next season despite being nearing the end of his contract.

Red Bull announced that Max Verstappen has extended his contract with the team by one year on Friday morning, despite his previous deal being set to expire a the end of 2019. By contrast, Ricciardo is out of contract at the end of next season but says he was expecting to enter proper talks after this year.

"I don't know," Ricciardo replied when asked why he hasn't extended his deal yet. "To be honest, it's not that I've said no to anything. It's just still quite early, I think. People talked a little bit about contracts and the silly season for next year, but I thought that would still happen next year. It's still quite early.

"On the positive side, obviously it's not really got anything to do with me, but if I'm to try and extract some positives out of [Verstappen's] news it's that it gives us good confidence for next year. He and his management see a lot of positives in the team to continue like that.

"I'm 100 percent here next year, I can at least say that, and I think it gives both of us confidence that we'll keep progressing the way we are."

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With Helmut Marko saying Red Bull "wants to achieve the championship title as the youngest ever Formula 1 driver" with Verstappen, Ricciardo insists he doesn't feel there is more focus on his teammate.

"For sure, as far as media goes, he certainly gets a lot of attention and that," Ricciardo said. "Not that I'm trying to take that away – that's just how it works. He's broken records for his age and things like that, so rightly so. But yeah, take the media out of it, as far as inside the team, new parts on the car, things like this, there's always been equality.

"There's never been anything like that [favoritism]. As far as I'm concerned, it's a bit of media stuff but not anything internal. That's fine, I have no concerns with that."

After Verstappen's deal, Marko says the timing is because of a request from Verstappen but that focus would now switch to Ricciardo.

"Yes, both drivers, Max and Ricciardo, could have been free after '18," Marko said. "So we tried to secure at least one driver, because Max asked if we could make a deal to 2020. Ricciardo was putting himself on the market. So now we are talking with him."