Christian Horner says there is "lots of reason for optimism" about the Renault engine upgrade Red Bull expects to be introduced at the Canadian Grand Prix.
Renault is running out its new specification of engine in Barcelona this week and the early feedback from Esteban Ocon and Daniel Ricciardo was very positive. Those test days come after Red Bull's first win since the 2014 Belgian Grand Prix, as Max Verstappen finished ahead of the two Ferrari's for his maiden win in Spain last Sunday.
Red Bull is running its engine under the TAG Heuer branding this season but they are exactly the same power units as the factory team. Horner says Red Bull has every reason to be excited about the team's chances of regularly fighting Ferrari in the near future.
Speaking after Verstappen's win, Horner said: "Well I have to pay compliment to our TAG Heuer engine partners who have done a great job in making progress and I think that with what's in the pipeline for the coming races, there's a lot of reason for optimism. I think if we get what's advertised then it's going to put us in a position to at least race Ferraris every weekend and then hopefully we can get into trying to close that gap down to Mercedes at certain circuits.
"Daniel qualified within 0.65 I think it was of a second of Lewis Hamilton here which is the closest I think anybody has really been in the last 12 months, so at a track like this, which is really encouraging so I think if we can find a few tenths on the power unit side it's only going to be gratefully received."
Ricciardo said he would happily take the Renault upgrade for the next race at Monaco rather than waiting for the Canadian Grand Prix. Horner reckons a decision will be made on the basis of this week's test, which concludes after Wednesday's running.
"Let's see how the test goes but if there was any opportunity to be even more competitive in Monaco of course we would take it but that's the decision for the guys from Renault, it's not our decision. We'll obviously do the testing and then they will look at the numbers."