Daniel Ricciardo says he and Toro Rosso team-mate Jean-Eric Vergne deserve to remain at the Italian squad for the 2013 campaign, with the pair still waiting 'to put pen to paper' on new deals. Ricciardo joined the outfit this year following a part-season with HRT, while Vergne made his fully-fledged Grand Prix debut in 2012.
"No confirmation but not really any doubts either to be honest," Ricciardo told ESPN of his current situation. "Nothing's been signed on paper but we've been involved with some brief discussions on next year and what (Technical Director) James (Key) is hoping to achieve and what the team is looking for.
"So I guess being involved with these discussions is a positive and to be honest I think we definitely deserve another season. I think the team sees that and I think most of the time if there's someone to blame they're blaming the package more than us.
"I think they see that the car hasn't been the strongest this year and they see that with a stronger package we can definitely deliver some strong results."
Ricciardo went on to explain that he is simply waiting for Dr. Helmut Marko - Red Bull Racing's team advisor - to make his final driver line-up decision for the 2013 campaign, something the 23-year-old Australian is expecting to be an annual occurrence.
"It's pretty much year-by-year with Red Bull; Dr. Marko keeps us on a tight leash so we wait for his command," Ricciardo explained. "As I said there's nothing really which tells me we won't, but obviously until pen's on paper I'm not going to get too excited."
Ricciardo has recorded five top ten finishes so far this season, with Vergne scoring points on three occasions. However, courtesy of slightly higher race finishes, the latter is currently ahead in the overall championship standings by a total of three points.
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Toro Rosso retains Ricciardo and Vergne
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