Red Bull lodging 2016 F1 entry encourages Daniel Ricciardo
Daniel Ricciardo feels Red Bull has taken "the first step towards a better 2016" after lodging an official entry for next year's Formula 1 world championship
All F1 teams had until November 1 to confirm their entry for 2016, with Red Bull opting to do so despite not having an engine supply as yet.
The Milton Keynes-based marque now has until the end of this month to pay the entry fee, by which time it should have finalised its power-unit arrangements.
At this stage confirming an entry is merely a box-ticking exercise and is by no means a guarantee any team will definitively take part next season.
But it is at least a move in the right direction for Red Bull given owner Dietrich Mateschitz has previously stated he could pull his team out of F1.
"It's nice to know," said Ricciardo of the entry submission.
"I always had faith, but it's nice.
"It's the first step towards a better 2016. It's good news."
It now appears Red Bull is closing in on a renegotiated deal with Renault after originally opting to cancel its supply contract with the French manufacturer, believing it had a deal with Mercedes.
Mercedes, however, then opted against this, following which talks with Ferrari and Honda took place, only to founder.
Red Bull was unwilling to accept 2015-spec engines from Ferrari, while Honda's willingness to do a deal was scuppered by a veto from its works partner McLaren.
Ricciardo is confident Red Bull's engine situation will now be swiftly resolved so that attention can turn to 2016 as soon as the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix is over.
"I think within a week there should be some conclusion because once we get to Abu Dhabi, after that we need to start working," he said.
"Between now and Abu Dhabi we'll feel something."
The Australian is running Renault's upgraded engine in his car at this weekend's Brazilian Grand Prix, but said it had not made a big impression on him in Friday practice.
"The engine was reliable," he said.
"Sure, I want a bit more power from it, it's not as much as we would like, but at least we got some good laps and some good information.
"I'm sure the guys will work tonight and see if we can tune and get more power out of it."
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