Ricciardo labels Renault evolution 'not massive'

Daniel Ricciardo thinks the upgraded Renault power unit available for this weekend’s United States Grand Prix will not result in massive gains for Red Bull.

The French manufacturer almost used up its entire 12-token allocation to bring a new engine specification to Austin, focussing on the internals of the ICE in order to unlock more power and efficiency.

However, Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz has already revealed that his team will not run the upgrade because they feel its potential advantages do not offset the inconveniences of taking a grid penalty. According to Ricciardo, Red Bull is leaning towards the same decision.

“It’s available if we want to use it,” said the Australian. “Obviously that would mean a penalty, though, so we’ve got to understand if it’s worth it.

“Last I heard, it’s not massive so from my understanding it’s probably not worth taking it. I think we’re down such a chunk that I don’t think we’re going to gain enough in this short time to make it up so if we start from the back, I don’t think we’re going to make up the ground we need.

“Right now, I would say we’re probably less likely to take it. That’s about it. Hopefully today they tell me something different and we’ve found a bigger chunk of horsepower from it but I think realistically there’s not a whole lot.”

After securing four consecutive double world championships (2010-13) together, Renault and Red Bull have spectacularly fallen out in the wake of the Viry-based constructor’s troubles in the 1.6-litre V6 turbocharged era.

The pair had an engine deal until the end of 2016 but the energy drinks giant elected to part ways one year ahead of schedule, though Renault is yet to make the news official amidst speculation about its return as a works team.

Earlier this month, Red Bull owner Dietrick Mateschitz set an end-of-October deadline to find a competitive power unit otherwise he will pull the plug on his two teams. Despite the fatidic date looming closer, Ricciardo keeps his cool but insists he does not want his squad be in F1 just to make up the numbers.

“Not much has changed to be honest. We’re still not really confirmed with anything yet. From my side I’m still confident I’ll be racing. Confident we’ll be there, hopefully competitive. I think that’s more the concern. I have confidence we’ll be on the grid it’s just the concern is can we be competitive?

“I want to make sure we can be. This year, obviously we have got a couple of podiums, which is nice, but certainly not enough to keep us extremely happy. So, yeah, we want to be competitive again and I think that’s just as important as being on the grid.”

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