Red Bull team boss Christian Horner says the decision over which engine supplier to use in 2019 is currently taking priority over re-signing Daniel Ricciardo.
The Milton Keynes outfit is having to weigh up whether to renew with Renault, with whom they won four championships but have held them back during the hybrid era, or switch to Honda, who now supply junior team Toro Rosso after splitting from McLaren after last year.
Horner has already stated the respective performance of the two manufacturer’s upgrades at the next race in Canada will be a key deciding factor and, despite the hype around the Australian after his win in Monaco this past weekend, his focus remains on making the right call.
“The first thing is to get the engine sorted and then very much follow on from there with the driver,” he said.
It is likely that Ricciardo will also be keen to know which engine Red Bull choose as both Renault and Honda still lack overall power compared to Mercedes and Ferrari but in the races, the French company has caught up somewhat as proven by the number of fastest laps the team has taken.
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But as for whether his remarkable victory in Monte Carlo has had any impact on future talks, Horner added: “You could say that it has made Daniel more expensive and put his value up or it’s [put] the team in a stronger position in terms of its value and potential to him.
“The reality is it’s finding a solution to conclude a deal with Daniel in the next couple of months.”
More good news for Ricciardo came after it emerged he won’t need a new MGU-K for the Canadian GP after it was the part that failed and resulted in his lack of power during the race on Sunday.
According to Auto Motor und Sport it was an assembly problem as opposed to a mechanical issue that was the issue, had that not been the case the 28-year-old would have needed a third which would have resulted in a 10-place grid penalty.
