Red Bull considers taking F1 engine penalties for Canadian GP
The Red Bull Formula 1 team will this week consider whether to take its first engine penalty of the season in the upcoming Canadian Grand Prix
The four-time world champion team suffered a number of failures with its Renault power unit in the opening five races leaving Daniel Ricciardo and Daniil Kvyat on the fourth and final engine of their allocation with 13 races to go.
Both drivers got through the Monaco Grand Prix weekend without any failures and the team achieved its best result of the season, with Kvyat and Ricciardo fourth and fifth respectively.
Though Red Bull won in Canada last year after Mercedes encountered problems, Horner is wary that the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve's long straights will provide a tougher test as Renault remains down on power compared to rivals Mercedes and Ferrari.
"The fact we got through this race without any engine issues at all is a step in the right direction," said Horner.
"But Canada is a much bigger challenge for us than here.
"We've now got to evaluate what happens in Montreal, whether we take a penalty there or not.
"It really depends on the state of these engines after this race.
"It's not hard on the engines round here [in Monaco] and I think it's something we will have to evaluate during this week."
RED BULL PACKAGE MAXIMISED
Horner believes Red Bull got the maximum out of its Monaco GP weekend, with the team taking advantage of Williams's struggles to edge closer to third in the constructors' championship, cutting the gap from 51 points to 29.
"Renault have done a good job getting the best out of their current package and we've got the best out of the chassis and drivers," said Horner.
"Fourth and fifth and we beat a Ferrari fair and square. It is as good as we could really hope for."
"We've run maximise downforce and haven't had to compromise on the downforce and we've seen the chassis' full potential."
In the closing stages, Kvyat was told to let Ricciardo through so the Australian could challenge the two Mercedes and Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel for a podium as he was on a different strategy to his team-mate.
However, as agreed by the team, when Ricciardo's bid failed, he slowed and gave the place back to Kvyat before the chequered flag.
"The drivers did a super job this weekend," said Horner. "Daniil Kvyat put in a great performance.
"He delivered when he needed to and managed the tyres extremely well. And it was great teamwork.
"With Ricciardo, we had a free stop after Perez stopped to put a set of super-softs on the car.
"He managed a brave move to get past Kimi and then it made sense to switch the drivers on the understanding that if he couldn't pass the cars ahead he would have to give the position back."
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