Ricciardo: "Mercedes more vulnerable than ever before"

Daniel Ricciardo says that Mercedes look more vulnerable this season but believes the side are still the hardest to beat despite showing their weaknesses.

Mercedes won four back-to-back drivers' and constructors' titles from 2014 to 2017, but Ferrari are in charge at the moment.

Lewis Hamilton has also fallen behind Sebastian Vettel in the drivers' standings - mainly to do with Mercedes' double-retirement in Austria.

The team came under the spotlight in that race because of a bad strategy call when Hamilton was in front.

That's an example of some of the bad in-race calls that Mercedes have made this season and they've recently come under lots of pressure.

"They are not as dominant as they have been the last few years," Ricciardo told Autosport.

"That was inevitably going to start to mellow out at some point.

"I still think they are the overall toughest package to beat on the grid but they've shown some signs of weaknesses in some areas.

"Compared to how they've been, yeah they look vulnerable, but still in the big scheme of things they are a strong team and difficult to beat."

Ricciardo has been rumoured to be looking for a way out of his team, Red Bull.

The Australian admits that his side lack "real pace" and he has accepted his title dream is unrealistic.

"I still don't think we've got the real pace every weekend to convince ourselves that we can be there (in the title fight)," Ricciardo said.

"I guess Max and myself probably take too many points away from each other - Lewis and Seb are doing all the winning there.

"We are good enough to win more races. We need to find a little bit to be there on more tracks."