Horner takes sly dig at Ricciardo’s reported move to McLaren

Ricciardo’s F1 future hangs by a thread especially after Red Bull agreed a deal with Honda for the next two seasons.

The Australian has conceded that his next move would probably be his final destination in F1 and thus is taking time to weigh all his options.

The rumour mill suggests that Ricciardo could be on his way to Ferrari as Kimi Raikkonen has already told the Ferrari management that his time in that prestigious seat is done.

However, McLaren’s bold $20 million per year offer has Ricciardo interested, as he feels that he would love to follow Hamilton’s path and take charge of a mid table team.

Christian Horner has however said that renewing his contract with Red Bull is Ricciardo’s best case scenario.

The situation with Daniel is there’s an intent on both sides to move forwards,” said Horner

“The first thing was to close the situation with the engine. That’s now done, Daniel understands the engineering rationale behind that.

“Let’s not forget he’s been in a car that the last couple of grands prix [Monaco and Canada] has been lapping the cars to our left.

“It would be a fairly bold decision to step out of a car he’s won two grands prix in this year and is a championship contender.

“I would be surprised if he was to leave the team because it’s a good fit between himself and Red Bull but it’s Formula 1.” he added.

Boullier conceded that he loved Ricciardo and was interested as long as he is on the market.

“We love Daniel, I’ve known him many, many years,” said Boullier.

“He’s doing a good job with Red Bull.

“As long as a driver of that calibre is on the market you look to see if there’s a discussion possible.

“At this time of the year it’s still too early to speak about that. Just normal, gentle discussions.” he added.

Abiteboul believes that Red Bull’s Honda switch could have a massive bearing on Ricciardo’s future as a lot of uncertainty revolves around how Red Bull’s car would behave next season.

“We can say it’s unconnected to the engine decision but it’s not,” he said.

“Carlos was loaned to us because of all the musical chairs that happened last year.

“I expect there would be collateral consequences [from Red Bull’s Honda move]. I’m pretty sure we will discuss that [with Red Bull] in the next few weeks.

“We need to watch out for any driver development from Red Bull’s side first, and the collateral consequences it may have on us.” he added.

How will Ricciardo cope with this tricky, tricky situation?