Niki Lauda confirms Mercedes’ driver line up for 2019

Mercedes had the perfect Saturday in Austria, as Bottas and Hamilton secured the front row for the team in what was a tantalisingly close qualifying session.

Bottas replicated his 2017 drive at the Red Bull ring, going fastest, keeping the Hamilton and Vettel challenge at bay.

And it seems like Mercedes are rewarding him by keeping him at the team for 2019.

In an interview with Austria TV, Niki Lauda confirmed that Bottas and Hamilton will be driving for Mercedes next season as well.

He said that Mercedes will not be pursuing Ricciardo and will stick to the Finn. 

Hamilton’s new contract is all but sealed, with the Brit set to be signed on a $40 million/year contract.

The Hamilton contract is set to be be finalised at Silverstone this year and that would mark  the beginning of some significant movement in the F1 driver market.

Ricciardo would be hoping to get a massive deal from Red Bull, one that could ‘somewhat’ be in the range of Hamilton’s contract.

Red Bull, however, are going to play on that fact that Ricciardo doesn’t really have any place to go and hence would be looking to tie him down for something way less than Hamilton’s contract.

Ricciardo however, has claimed that he could chose to even go to McLaren or Renault next season, but that seems like a bait.

Ferrari too have settled their driver line up as multiple reports suggest that Leclerc has already signed a two year deal with Ferrari.

That means Raikkonen too will be on the move next year, if he remains in F1.

Things are going to get really interesting over the summer.