Vettel has ’nothing against’ Ricciardo as teammate

Sebastian Vettel on Thursday said he would not mind being reunited in a team with Daniel Ricciardo.

Australian Ricciardo, furious with Red Bull after bungled strategies in Barcelona and Monaco, has been linked with a move to replace Kimi Raikkonen at Ferrari.

"It’s always nice if other teams show interest in you," he is quoted by Spain’s El Mundo Deportivo. "It’s a compliment.

"The only thing I want is to fight for a title. If I change it is to fight for the championship, not to go anywhere for the prestige," Ricciardo added.

German Vettel has made it clear he wants Raikkonen to remain his Ferrari teammate in 2017, but he also said reuniting with his former Red Bull colleague would be acceptable.

"In 2014 we worked well as a team and had no problems," he said in Canada.

"He is a strong driver and 2014 was a successful year for him, even though last season he ran into some difficulties. This year, it is difficult to judge because I don’t know what is happening in his team, but I have nothing against him," Vettel added.

Ferrari has brought several upgrades to Canada, most notably a revised turbo design, but Vettel said the media’s reaction to a couple of less impressive races recently has surprised him.

"Yes, that it was blown up by the outside surprised us," he said.

"We are not looking for excuses but there are reasons that we could not show what we can do; some within our power and some not.

"We have aggressively tried to close the gap to Mercedes and also paid a price for that."