The former world champions have officially lodged their entry into next year’s World Championship – although they haven’t yet finalised their engine supply.
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“We’ve entered the world championship so as long as we sort our engine predicament out, absolutely we’ll be there next year”, team principal Christian Horner told Sky Sports television at the Brazilian Grand Prix on Friday.
Ricciardo is expected to sample the upgraded power unit first, with team mate Daniil Kvyat following suit – taking the resulting grid penalties like the Australian – if it’s deemed to be a sufficiently compelling prospect.
“We are working towards a deal and if one can be achieved, then that will be announced in time but we will still make it, don’t worry”, he is quoted by Planet F1 as saying.
“I’ve thought to myself how nice it would be to have a vehicle like we’ve had with a Mercedes in the back”, said Ricciardo.
Among the speculation had also been talk that Red Bull energy drink magnate Dietrich Mateschitz may pull the team out of the sport altogether.
Also, Red Bull would have to pay Renault more for the power units since the two sponsors would now actually pay less for exposure on the RB12 – that’s what happens when you’re not in a position to negotiate. “I don’t know what the weather’s going to do”.
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After months of disagreements with the French suppliers, Red Bull may yet return to them. “I am a bit run down”, said the Briton of his recent accident in Monaco, where he crashed his £1.5 million (S$3.2 million) supercar. “Illien, an engine genius, is an old mate of Adrian Newey’s and Newey trusts him and wants him to freshen-up the Renault engine”. “If you look at the issues that are now surrounding power supply and the prices of power supply at the moment – upwards of 30m euro – it’s just too much money”.
