Red Bull ‘will remain in F1 in 2016’

Red Bull have confirmed they will stay in F1 as they close in on a solution to their long-running engine crisis.

“We’ve entered the World Championship”, team boss Christian Horner revealed to Sky Sports News headquarters.

Verstappen, who has impressed since making his debut for junior team Toro Rosso this season at the age of 17, is under contract to Red Bull until the end of 2017.

After months of threatening to quit Formula One if they failed to secure a competitive engine, Red Bull have confirmed their participation next season.

“We want to know”, he said.

“I think once we get to Abu Dhabi after that, we need to start working”.

Ricciardo finished 0.2s ahead of Kvyat in the second practice session. “I always had faith I would [drive] but it’s nice. It’s the first step towards a better 2016, so it’s good news”. Also, Red Bull would have to pay Renault more for the power units since the two sponsors would now actually pay less for exposure on the RB12 – that’s what happens when you’re not in a position to negotiate.

If the deal does not happen, Red Bull could still be left scrambling for a last-minute engine deal with another manufacturer.

“[The Rebranding] could be something exotic, it could be nothing, or one of those marketing things Red Bull is very good at”.

Renault, however, is not necessarily what Ricciardo would want, given a choice of powerplants for 2016.

Whether or not such an arrangement would represent long-term solution for the former world champions is up for debate, however.

“First of all we’d have to look what regulations surround those engines, the competitiveness of that engine, but if it was a guaranteed competitive engine then absolutely [we’d be interested]”, Horner added.

“But rival teams are speaking to the wrong people if they’re talking to the driver as the driver has a contract”.

“At the moment we did not find too much”, Ricciardo told reporters.