The Red Bull duo have been talked up by team principal Christian Horner as the best driver pairing in the sport.

But they saw their hopes of mounting an F1 title challenge in 2017 hampered by a slow start and a series of car problems.

Ricciardo and Verstappen ultimately ended the campaign fifth and sixth respectively in the drivers’ standings.

And the Aussie racer has now opened up on his and his team-mate’s shared disappointment at their failure to compete with Mercedes.

"Unfortunately Mercedes has been really strong for the last four years," said Ricciardo. 

"They have been the team to beat.

"We thought this year would be a chance for us to really challenge them. 

"We challenged them some races but not enough to fight for the title.

"In the end, myself and Max were fifth and sixth in the championship so we did not come near to what we wanted.

"What we need to do for next year to have a chance is that we need to start the season stronger.

"That's where we lost a lot of our momentum this year. 

"At the beginning of the season, we were too far behind Mercedes and Ferrari.

"We made a lot of progress, which was really good, so we need to continue that momentum."