Daniel Ricciardo has claimed earlier comments by Red Bull designer Adrian Newey were wrong and he isn’t currently set for a grid drop at the Canadian GP.
After his MGU-K problem en route to the win last time out in Monaco and an expected upgrade from Renault, the Australian was thought to be odds-on to be exceeding his allowed allocation on some engine components and starting towards the back in Montreal.
That was then seemingly ‘confirmed’ by Newey on Monday but on Thursday the 28-year-old revealed, for now at least, he should be good to go.
“If something happens in practice and we are forced to change something, then I will get a penalty,” he told reporters. “But for now, we still have enough parts to run, and if it runs reliably we will do the whole weekend with it.”
Ricciardo does admit it is merely a matter of when not if he’ll have to mount a comeback through the field at a Grand Prix but hopes it can be put off for a long as possible.
“It could come as soon as Paul Ricard,” he said, the host of the returning French GP in two weeks time. “When I heard whispers of taking a penalty here, at that point I was like ‘I will take it in Paul Ricard but not here’.
“This is such a difficult circuit for overtaking and having such good momentum at the moment I think a penalty would take a bit of wind out of our sails. If we can escape this weekend without it, then I’d rather take it somewhere else.”
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There would also be another longer-term benefit of holding off, even if many of the upcoming circuits, in theory, are tougher for overtaking.
“The earlier we take a penalty then maybe we have to take another one before the year is out,” Ricciardo pointed out.
“Also, we know that especially coming here with the Hypersoft and we were good on the Hypersoft in Monaco, maybe it gives us a chance this weekend of having a strong race.
“We feel on paper this circuit should suit us more than a couple of the others coming up. Winning two in a row would be nice…starting 15th would [make victory] very unlikely here.”