Ricciardo wanted Red Bull to give him ‘Honda’ rationale

Ricciardo’s future in F1 still hangs in the balance, despite having admitted that the attractive offers from the top teams don’t quite exist.

The Australian might get forced into signing a contract with Red Bull because of a lack of options.

But it now seems that Ricciardo has finally made peace with his future and is set to sign with Red Bull as he understands the rationale behind the Honda switch.

It was important for him, on an individual level, to understand why the switch was made and that it wasn’t just based on emotions.

In an interview with Autosport, Ricciardo said that he wanted confirmation from Red Bull that the Honda deal wasn’t quite made on ’emotions’.

“I think probably until I was to drive a Honda I wouldn’t know [100%].” Ricciardo said.

“I’ve obviously heard the team out more than once and they’ve given me the reasons.

“The important thing for me, to understand why they’ve done it, is it can’t just be purely on emotions.

“Like, ‘It’s gone to shit with Renault, whatever, and we’re doing it because we want to change’.

“They’ve obviously done their homework and they strongly believe that it is a good thing, not just an emotional decision.

“They’ve done what they can to try and encourage me to make it happen.” he added.

Christian Horner has confirmed that Red Bull have explained the reason for the switch to Ricciardo and he does seem content with it.

“We sat down and explained the rationale behind the changes we made.

“The reality is it’s time for change. We’ve been doing the same thing year after year, we’ve seen real progress with Honda, and it just feels the right time in our evolution to be going a different route.” Horner said.