Red Bull is making extensions to the respective contracts of Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen a “priority” with team boss Christian Horner hoping to maintain the pairing until 2020.
The future of both drivers is set to be a hot topic in the next 12 months with Ricciardo officially out of contract at the end of next season while Verstappen is likely to be a wanted man should he wish to depart the Milton Keynes outfit.
Indeed, the performance of Red Bull in 2018 is likely to be crucial to what both drivers decide, particularly the Australian who will be in his fifth season with the senior team and has seen his chance of championships fail to materialise.
“It’s the first time Daniel is effectively out of a contract, he’s been with Red Bull for ten years, so it’ll be the first time he’s a free agent,” Horner explained to Sky Sports. “It doesn’t mean he wants to leave or it doesn’t mean that we want him to go anywhere else, or that we want anybody else.”
As for the Dutchman, it is understood both Ferrari and Mercedes could battle for his signature for 2019, with a claim by the Times F1 reporter Kevin Eason that the German manufacturer is “halfway” to signing the 20-year-old.
Over the weekend, Verstappen was quoted as saying he didn’t “dislike” the idea of moving to another team as he simply wants to race in the fastest car and all of this is leaving the Red Bull team boss in a difficult situation.
“What is absolutely clear is our intention to retain both of our drivers until 2020,” Horner stated. “Our priority is to keep those two drivers.”
Recent races will have offered hope for Red Bull going forward as they secured their first back-to-back double podium finishes of the hybrid era at Sepang and Suzuka and have made progress in closing on Mercedes and Ferrari as the season has gone on.
The concern for the team has always their pace at the start of the year and it was something F1’s motorsport managing director Ross Brawn alluded to when considering their story of 2017.
“This year has once again confirmed the Milton Keynes squad’s recent tendency to get the best from its package in the second part of the season,” the Briton said.
“If this was the early phase of the championship, then Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo might be considered serious title contenders but that’s out of the question because of the early-season performance gap the team suffered.
“The team has done an excellent job in building performance across the season and for everyone involved I’m sure there’s a hint of ‘what if’ about this season.”
