Aside from the exciting on-track action, one of the big talking-points of the 2018 Formula One season are contract disputes.

It's been reported in recent days that Mercedes are ready to offer Lewis Hamilton a bumper £250 million extension, as he hunts for his fifth world championship, which the Briton expected to sign.

Daniel Ricciardo is another world class driver whose future is up in the air.

In what has been a pretty open season so far in-terms of race-winning drivers, Ricciardo has managed to notch two victories to his belt.

The Australian took the Chinese Grand Prix after starting from sixth position on the grid, and then a month later he started and finished in-front at the Monaco Grand Prix.

With nine races completed in the 2018 calendar, Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel share three wins each, with Ricciardo's Red Bull team-mate Max Verstappen claiming victory in the most recent race in Austria.

But if previous reports were to be believed, the Dutchman may not be Ricciardo's team-mate for much longer.

Mercedes and Ferrari have both been incredibly interested in bringing him to their respective teams, but their line-ups look like they'll remain the same come March 2019, aside from Sauber's rising star Charles Leclerc potentially replacing Kimi Raikkonen at the Italian constructors.

Ricciardo has now admitted that he can't see a better option than staying put for the foreseeable future, despite nothing being signed.

"It's obviously looking more likely I'll probably remain, but there still hasn't been any pen to paper," said Ricciardo.

"[I'm] still trying to get a few last things sorted.

"Not every door is closed, but it's looking more and more likely that the other top teams will probably remain with their line-up.

"I don't have the facts on that, but you kind of just read between the lines and you feel that's probably going to remain.

"Obviously if it wasn't Red Bull, [Ferrari and Mercedes are] the two most attractive options.

"If they're not possible, then for me now it's hard to be convinced that another option is better than Red Bull.

"I'm making sure that I'm right with my judgments."