Horner: Ricciardo wants to stay at Red Bull

The future of Daniel Ricciardo raises many questions as the Australian is currently negotiating his contract which expires at the end of the year. If the options at his disposal cause a lot of ink to flow, he could extend with Red Bull according to Team Principal Christian Horner.

“We have reached the point where there is a desire for both parties to continue this relationship, assured the Briton at the Taureau Rouge factory before the British GP played this weekend at Silverstone. We must now tackle the details and arrive at a conclusion which will certainly be taken before the summer break (after the Hungarian GP on July 29). »

“He would certainly have been interested if Mercedes made a serious proposal, recognized the Team Principal of Red Bull Racing. He is eager to fight for the title and I think he would have looked closely at an offer from Mercedes or Ferrari, but these two teams seem to be satisfied with what they currently have. »

Red Bull made an important decision by choosing to turn to Honda as an engine supplier instead of Renault from 2019, after having criticized the Losange Power Units for several seasons.

“We have achieved three victories in nine races, as many as Ferrari and Mercedes, emphasized Christian Horner earlier. Our Achilles heel was failing to score points with both cars due to reliability and various incidents. There F1 is full of 'ifs', 'buts' and 'maybes', but if you look at the positions we have and the positions we should have, we should be leading the Championship. The classification is slightly different. »

“We have closed the gap in recent races and there is still a long way to go. We must be considered outsiders..., underlined Christian Horner. Certain circuits like Hungary or Singapore should suit us well. Other tracks should be more difficult for us, but we have the advantage of being a team that adapts very well and can make the difference with stops, strategies, etc. We still have our chances. »

Daniel Ricciardo maintains fourth place in the Championship, five points behind Kimi Räikkönen but is 50 points behind the leader Sebastian Vettel. The Australian lost ground last weekend at the Austrian GP when he retired with a broken exhaust.

Discover the analysis of the Austrian Grand Prix carried out by our special correspondents in issue 2172 of AUTOhebdo, available now in digital version on all platforms, and on newsstands this Wednesday.