Daniel Ricciardo says he needs to “understand more” about the Red Bull-Honda partnership before finalising his Formula 1 future – though hopes to conclude matters before the summer break.
Ricciardo is out of contract with Red Bull at the end of the season, and on Tuesday the team confirmed that it will switch from Renault to Honda power for 2019.
When asked what the move meant for his future, Ricciardo said: “It’s something I was aware of that could happen, so it’s not a complete shock or surprise to me.
“I was aware it was a possibility. It was something I was trying to prepare for and calculate in my mind.
“Now that it’s official, I’m going to try and understand a bit more about it, now that it’s definitely happening and keep trying to putting the pieces together to see if it’s a good move.
“There’s certainly a lot of pros with it, so just trying to add it all up in my mind.
“Renault has come a pretty long way this year. I know we still don’t have the qualifying modes, but our race pace, once we’re all fuel saving, we seem a lot more competitive.
“They are improving. Honda seems to be improving with Toro Rosso. They are both on the up. It’s just who is going to get there quicker, that’s still the unknown.”
Speaking about the timeframes involved, Ricciardo commented: “Now that the team has got the engine deal sorted, ideally for them they want something sooner rather than later.
“Probably in the next two weeks would be ideal for them. For me personally, it would be nice – even if it’s a while away – to go on the summer break knowing what I’m doing so I can enjoy the summer break.
“If I’m on the phone for two weeks of the August break still trying to figure out my future, that won’t be that good.
“For me to switch off as well. From a personal point of view, by the summer would be nice. It could happen sooner.”
Ricciardo emphasised further that getting into title-winning machinery remains his priority, while adding that he has no desire to switch teams for the sake of a new environment.
“The priority is to get a car that can win the world title because I really believe I can,” he said.
“That’s the first thing in my mind. If there was no possibility than for sure you look into other things. As a driver, I feel like I’ve done enough now.
“Lewis [Hamilton] touched on it, I didn’t even need to say it, the value…your value as a driver, it’s not X amount of money, it’s just what you feel your value is and what you bring to the sport. I feel like I old a certain value so I want to match that with my kind of expectations and what people value me as.
“I don’t want to think it’s definitely better somewhere else. People do like a change. That’s always appealing. But Just to make a change for the sake of making a change, that won’t be enough for me. I need to find some substance behind it if I’m going to jump ship.”
