Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo has said he will only consider a move to Ferrari if they have a car good enough to win the world championship.
Ricciardo, 26, who has long been linked with a move to the famous Italian constructor, is widely considered as one of the hottest properties on the grid.
And the Australian's future at Red Bull was placed in doubt in May after he admitted he did not speak to his team in the days after a Monaco pit-stop blunder robbed him of his first victory in nearly two years.
But speaking on the eve of Formula One's first race in Azerbaijan, Ricciardo told Press Association Sport: "Where I am in my career, personally, the only reason I would jump ship is to fight for a title.
"At the moment, Mercedes is the only team that is fighting for a championship, so the next best place for me would not be anywhere else other than Red Bull. For next year, I would say we have got as good a chance as Ferrari.
"If they started dominating, and they're like 'Daniel, we want you to come and win a world title for us', then obviously it looks a lot more appealing, but otherwise I am in the best position."
Sebastian Vettel indicated earlier this week that he would not veto a Ferrari move for Ricciardo, who crashed out of opening practice here after he lost control of his car at turn 15.
Two years ago, Vettel, who had just won four consecutive championships, was comfortably beaten by Ricciardo in their only season together at Red Bull.
Ricciardo, now in his sixth season, won three times, while Vettel failed to register a victory.
Responding to his former team-mate's comments, Ricciardo added: "Seb probably wants some revenge, but if I gave him revenge I would only do it to fight for a world title."
Ricciardo is 44 points adrift of championship leader Nico Rosberg after the opening seven rounds. But he should be closer to the Mercedes driver after suffering a puncture while leading in China, a poor strategical call from his Red Bull team in Spain - again while leading - and then the misery of Monaco.
On his chances of upsetting the odds, and beating either Rosberg or his Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton to the title, Ricciardo said: "It is a long shot. You need a few things to go your way and unfortunately they haven't.
"I guess the frustrating thing is the opportunities that we, and other teams, have had to take points away from Mercedes.
"We handed a victory to Lewis in Monaco, and Seb, or Ferrari, made life easy for him in Montreal. You can't let them have any free points.
"It is going to be hard. I would like to say it is possible, but it is a very outside chance."
Source: PA
