Mercedes play down Daniel Ricciardo links as Toto Wolff commits to his ‘three wives’ Hamilton, Bottas and Ocon

Ricciardo is out of contract at the end of the year along with Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas with Mercedes yet to confirm either one of their two drivers for 2019

Daniel Ricciardo has been linked with both Mercedes and Ferrari should he leave Red Bull (Getty)

Toto Wolff has played down the chances of Mercedes making a move for Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo when his contract expires at the end of the season by claiming that he is committed to his “three wives” of Lewis Hamilton, Valtteri Bottas and Esteban Ocon for 2019.

Ricciardo is currently the hottest property on the driver market for next year even though Hamilton is also out of contract, given that the four-time world champion is widely expected to remain with Mercedes for the foreseeable future. What is less certain is who his teammate next year will be, with the Silver Arrows – along with Ferrari – keeping their options open.

Having won the Chinese Grand Prix last month, Ricciardo made it clear that he will only stay with Red Bull if they can provide him with a car that can not only win races but compete for championships, and both Ferrari and Mercedes would be the obvious destinations if the Australian should choose to move.

That would put the futures of Bottas and Ferrari No 2, Kimi Raikkonen, in major doubt, as well as that of Mercedes reserve driver Ocon who is currently with Force India, but Mercedes’ executive director Wolff has stressed ahead of this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix that he will stick with his current trio unless plans change later in the year.

"We are not looking at drivers outside of Mercedes at the moment because, first of all, we need to give our support to our two guys, that’s the priority,” Wolff was quoted as saying by f1i.com.

"It’s like if you’re happy with your wife, you don’t look elsewhere! We are [happy] with our two wives – or three [including Ocon] – and we are not looking at that.

"Give us a few more races, [let us] start the European season properly, go to Canada, and then the intense July, and I will have a better view."

Mercedes’ decision will have a large impact further down the grid, with Force India likely to pick up at least one of the German manufacturer’s drivers if they are left out of the 2019 line-up. Both former Sauber driver Pascal Wehrlein and current Formula 2 contender George Russell are also tied to Mercedes and could feature in their plans for next year.

But with Ricciardo strongly linked to Ferrari rather than Mercedes, Raikkonen could find himself the man with most to lose should the ‘Honey Badger’ elect to leave Red Bull – who have already tied down Max Verstappen for next year. Those reports have triggered rumours that Raikkonen, who will turn 39 years old in October, will retire from F1 at the end of the year, but the Finn has been quick to dismiss those reports.

“It’s been the same story every year since I can remember, maybe 15 years, every year I’m out,” Raikkonen said. “I’ll do my stuff on my side. I enjoy the racing, that’s the only reason I’m here. The rest, we’ll see how it plays out.

“In the team we know what we want to do and if all those things fit together with all our feeling we’ll see what happens.”

Kimi Raikkonen has played down talk of his retirement at the end of the season (Getty)

Raikkonen sits third in the current drivers’ championship standings, having claimed podium finishes in Australia, China and most recently Azerbaijan where he took full advantage of Sebastian Vettel and Bottas’ mishaps to finish second behind Hamilton.

He added: “Right now all I want to do is well, it’s a long season and a long way until the end of the year.”