"I'm confident we will be there and hopefully competitive," says Aussie; Verstappen not worried but stresses that engine deal should be done quickly
Tuesday 27 October 2015 17:21, UK
Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen have expressed confidence that Red Bull and Toro Rosso will be on the grid next year.
Speaking in Austin ahead of this weekend's United States Grand Prix, both drivers sounded positive that they will stay put, despite Red Bull's repeated threats to withdraw from the sport at the end of the current season.
Asked about the situation in Thursday's FIA press confidence, Ricciardo's main concern was that Red Bull can provide him with a competitive car in 2016.
"Not much has changed to be honest, we are still not really confirmed with anything yet," he said. "But from my side, I am confident we will be racing. I'm confident we will be there and hopefully competitive. I think that is the bigger thing, I have confidence we will be on the grid, but the concern is can we be competitive?
"This year, we have got a couple of podiums which is nice, but certainly not enough to keep us extremely happy. We want to be competitive again and I think that is just as important as being on the grid."
Verstappen said that while he was not worried about Toro Rosso's future, he was concerned that they should sort out an engine deal as soon as possible.
"I'm very positive that we are here next year, so I'm not that worried," he said. "We'll just have to figure out what engine; I think we have to do it soon because otherwise we are really in trouble for the first test next year."
If he was forced out of F1, the 18-year-old quipped that "I'll go back go-karting for a year and hopefully we'll have another chance the year afterwards".
Red Bull have threatened to pull out because Renault's struggles to deal with the switch to hybrid power have left the former world champions struggling to re-capture their former glories.
They served early notice on ending the agreement in July, but could now go back to Renault after both Mercedes and Ferrari rejected approaches.
Toro Rosso are also Renault-powered but speculation suggests that they could race next season with 2015-specification Ferrari engines.
