Red Bull has decided to switch to Honda F1 engines next year, high level sources have revealed, with confirmation of the move likely ahead of this weekend’s French Grand Prix.

Although the Milton Keynes-based team had been expected to wait until the Austrian GP to make its final call on the 2019 engine decision, indications now suggest that senior management has made its mind up.

Following close evaluation of the performance steps made by both car manufacturers over the Canadian GP weekend, and well aware that Renault could not guarantee it could keep its engine supply offer open, Red Bull is set on committing to Honda.

It is understood its decision was communicated to external parties late on Monday night.

Red Bull was unavailable for comment, and it is unclear when the move will be made official, but there are suggestions it could come before this weekend's race in Paul Ricard.

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Red Bull realised that as long as it remained a customer – whether with Ferrari, Mercedes, or Renault (or any notional engine supplier with an owner team) – it would not obtain engine parity, and would thus be unlikely to replicate the soaring heights the team reached as Renault’s works engine partner between 2010 and 2013, when the partnership walked both titles for four straight years.

Can it be coincidence that the winning streak commenced immediately after Renault withdrew from F1 as team owner to concentrate on engine supply, and ceased just as Renault’s board began mulling a full return to F1?

Thus Red Bull Racing faced two stark choices if it wished to break out of the customer engine conundrum: build its own engine, or cut a deal with an engine supplier not prioritising its own team.

The former option was considered and rejected as too expensive, as Dr Helmut Marko, Red Bull’s F1 consultant, told this writer in January 2016 – ironically on the eve of the announcement of the Aston Martin-Red Bull Technologies Valkyrie hypercar joint venture.

“We looked at it, but very quickly found out it wasn’t for Red Bull,” he said. “[The timing was] when we had the first tests in 2014. We were looking at it, investigating it.” In short it was too complicated and too expensive – his estimate was “250-300 people just to develop such an engine”.

As an aside, many consider it baffling that Red Bull employs 700+ people to build chassis for a single race team, yet considered it too costly to employ half that number to design, build and develop an engine that the company could share across two teams – while, saliently, controlling its own power unit destiny?

Whatever, Red Bull bombed the idea, which left Plan B: a full works deal. That led Marko to the only available option: Honda. As the McLaren-Honda partnership unravelled acrimoniously, so he wooed Honda as supplier to Toro Rosso. The rest is history: a deal was done, McLaren took over the Renault engines Toro Rosso had signed for until the end of 2018, and the Italian team went the other way.

Despite Honda’s well-known reliability and performance shortfalls the deal had considerable merit. Stung by McLaren’s unrelenting criticism, Honda had committed to ‘westernising’ its approach, and increasingly employed a considerable number of seasoned F1 personnel rather than operating the engine division as a Japan-based research laboratory for domestic engineers. In addition, a mass shake-up of management was on the cards.

Unsaid, but alluded to, was that the deal would permit Red Bull to evaluate Honda’s potential with a view to the Big H becoming engine supplier to both Red Bull teams – with the British-based operation, of course, enjoying priority – which would simultaneously deliver technical and operational synergies between the two teams, enabling them to gradually move towards a Ferrari/Haas-type relationship, with all the associated benefits.

Once Toro Rosso, which had but five months to re-engineer its chassis, proved a Honda’s reliability (by recording the third-highest number of laps during pre-season testing while McLaren languished at the bottom of the table), then demonstrated its performance potential (by Pierre Gasly’s superb fourth place in Bahrain) the deal was all but done.

True, there were blips such as China, but in general the feedback from Toro Rosso was extremely encouraging.

Come Canada, the decision was virtually made for Red Bull after Honda introduced mega updates that delivered exactly as promised – unlike a succession of updates promised by Renault over the years, or, for that matter, by Honda during their three years with McLaren. Fresh winds had obviously swept through Honda’s R&D base in Tochigi, Japan – just as McLaren split with the team…

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... for Red Bull a switch to Honda through to the end of 2020 makes perfect sense. It coincides with the expiry date on current commercial, technical and sporting covenants, and sets the company up with a strong ‘works’ partner thereafter should the partnership pan out. If not, Aston Martin may emerge as its post-2020 engine supplier, while rumours of an entry from VW Group – with whom Red Bull enjoys strong ties – refuse to die.

Does all this mean Red Bull has taken the money ahead of results? Not at all: it examined all angles, including impact on performance, and taken commercial decisions that best position both team through to 2020 and beyond, while scoring an estimated 100 million quid (or even more). What’s wrong with that?

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Daniel Ricciardo could become one of the highest-paid Formula One drivers if he accepts a reported monster offer to switch from Red Bull. German media outlet Sports Bild is reporting a $20m-per-year deal is on the table from rival team McLaren for the Australian star, which would more than triple his current salary.

Red Bull Formula 1 driver Daniel Ricciardo says he sees "some appeal" in a potential move to a team like McLaren or Renault, especially because of what Lewis Hamilton has managed to accomplish at Mercedes.

Ricciardo's current deal with Red Bull runs out at the end of the year, and while the team is keen to keep him on board, the Aussie has also been linked to F1's other powerhouses Mercedes and Ferrari.But the interest in Ricciardo is not limited to the top three teams, as Renault had tried to sign him as part of the engine deals reshuffle of last year, while a possible McLaren bid for his services was reported this week in German media.Ricciardo has stressed that his priority "was to try and get a car that can win the world title" - but when asked whether he had any interest in building a team like McLaren or Renault around himself, despite the fact they weren't currently among F1's elite, he responded affirmatively.

"I'm not going to say 'no, it doesn't interest me at all'," he said. "Probably more 'cause [of] what Lewis was able to do with Mercedes.

"And I know that, if you're saying those two teams, they're not quite in that position yet - but could they be? Maybe.

"The thought of that, it has some appeal. I wouldn't say it's probably top of my list right now, but I wouldn't dismiss it, also.

"Obviously McLaren and Renault aren't there [out front] today, but maybe they will be there in a year or three years' time."

Hamilton shocked F1 with his move from perennial frontrunner McLaren to Mercedes back in 2013, but was rewarded with three drivers' titles since, with the Silver Arrows emerging as the dominant force of the hybrid era.

"Lewis pulled the trigger pretty well," Ricciardo added jovially. "Whether he fluked it - he says that he really knew it was going to happen, I don't know.

"Obviously he's done well for himself with that move. So, whether it's just a fantasy for everyone else, I don't know, but at least there's a little bit of proof that something like that could potentially happen again."

Drawn on the specific reports of the McLaren bid, Ricciardo stressed he hasn't been "presented anything", but reckoned interest from the Woking-based outfit would be logical.

"I'll be honest, obviously, everyone's talking about Mercedes and Ferrari for potential places for me to go, but I'm aware that there's obviously going to be interest from other teams, and I guess McLaren is probably one of them," he said.

"Probably depends as well on what Fernando [Alonso] does, if he stays, if he goes. If he does go, then I guess, yeah, they'd probably want someone, a more experienced driver to come in.

"I guess we'll see. There's a lot of things to weigh up right now, but nothing really further to comment on that."

Among the main things for Ricciardo to "weigh up" is his current Red Bullteam's 2019-20 deal to use Honda engines, which was officially announced earlier this week.

"It was something I was in a way already trying to prepare for or calculate in my mind," he said.

"Just going to try and understand a little bit more about it now that it's definitely happening, and just to try and keep putting the pieces together if it's a good move.

"There's certainty a lot of pros. Just trying to add it all up, really, in my mind."

Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas have hinted at a further delay for Mercedes' new Formula 1 engine specification, with no confirmation of its French Grand Prix use yet.

Mercedes had planned to introduce the new spec across all six of its cars in Canada, but the introduction was delayed after last-minute reliability issues on the dyno.

Since then Mercedes has made modifications and continued dyno running - but given that the updates have to be proven over a seven race weekend duty cycle, it is likely that that process is still ongoing, and that a final decision will be made at the last minute.

One possible scenario is that Mercedes could gain a further day of dyno running by using its old engines on track on Friday, and then switching to the new spec for Saturday, if Brixworth gives the go-ahead.

If it doesn’t, then Mercedes may have to deploy fresh examples of the old specification on Saturday, which in theory will then have to do seven race weekends.

If the new spec is proven within the next few races, then the ‘fresh old’ spec could then be saved and deployed at venues like Budapest, where power is less important.

“At the moment, I don’t know,” said Hamilton when asked about the options. “I think I might have one of my new engines out of my three, which is good enough. The engine that we’ve used for the first seven races has been a great engine.

“A fresher, newer version of that is going to be great, and have more power than the [high mileage] one I raced in the last race, obviously. And so I personally am not concerned. I think tomorrow or the next couple of days we might have a better understanding of where we stand with that.”

Asked if it would be frustrating to miss out on a gain of a few tenths over up to seven race weekends Hamilton insisted that he had faith in the Mercedes engine team, led by Andy Cowell.

“It is all about tiny margins. Let’s just wait and see. Coming into this weekend, I’ve been on the phone to Andy this week, last week and into this week, and I have absolute full confidence in him and the guys.

“I don’t really want to say too much at the moment, because I don’t know what Andy is planning, but I trust that whatever decision those guys make will be for the right reasons."

Teammate Bottas has indicated that he’s keen to get the new spec this weekend, and hinted that the decision may be taken after Friday’s running.

“For sure we need to take some kind of new engine,” said the Finn. “This one is seven races old, and we are very much wanting to run the new one, but this we need to confirm tomorrow if we can or not. We will let you know tomorrow by the end of the day.

“I think this season is extremely close between three teams now, jut a little bit varying between race weekends, but any gain we can get – including a new engine – will be very important if we want to win the title. We all hope we can get the new one. At the moment that is our plan but we just need to confirm.

“I trust that things are being improved since two weeks ago with the new engine. If we decide to run it, for sure we are confident to run it 100%.”

Bottas conceded that taking a fresh old-spec engine, and committing to using it for seven races, would be a blow.

“I think as the championship is so close now, every hundredth or tenth is going to be very crucial. And for sure we all in the team, in Brixworth and Brackley, want to go for the new one but we need to confirm that tomorrow.

"If we want to win the championship then we need to keep getting all the small things. This is a big gain and we really need it.”

Ferrari is ready to replace Kimi Raikkonen with rising star Charles Leclerc in its Formula 1 driver line-up for 2019, Motorsport.com has learned.

Raikkonen, who turns 39 in October, earned a one-year contract extension with the Italian team last year.

However, Ferrari president Sergio Marchionne said in December that the 2007 world champion needed more consistency and that "probably this [2018] is the last season to find the right key".

Raikkonen enjoyed a strong start to 2018, scoring three podiums in the first four races and performing much closer to Sebastian Vettel's level than in previous seasons.

However, he has finished off the podium in the previous two races in Monaco and Canada, while Vettel scored a second and a victory to take the championship lead.

Motorsport.com understands that Ferrari considered replacing Raikkonen with current Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo, who is out-of-contract at the end of 2018.

However, it decided that the cost of hiring the Australian would be too high when combined with Vettel's existing salary.

That left it with a choice between Raikkonen, who is still Ferrari's most recent world champion but is yet to win a race since rejoining the team in 2014, and Leclerc, who is contesting his rookie F1 season with Sauber.

His dip in form this season has coincided with Leclerc's maiden campaign sparking into life, with the 20-year-old scoring points in three of the last four races and comfortably establishing an advantage over his experienced Sauber teammate Marcus Ericsson.

A final decision has not been made but Ferrari is understood to be leaning towards promoting Leclerc to a race seat.

This would shift it away from its policy of signing established drivers and mean the team swaps a driver with 277 grands prix starts to date – 137 for Ferrari, the third-most of any driver and two fewer than Felipe Massa – for one who is preparing for only his eighth GP weekend in France.

Asked by Motorsport.com on Thursday in France, ahead of this week's race, about his position on extending his F1 career, Raikkonen said he was "not any different to one week, two weeks, a month ago".

Leclerc is a product of the Ferrari Driver Academy and won back-to-back titles in GP3 and Formula 2 under the guidance of the scheme.

He would be its first graduate to make it to a Ferrari race seat.

Leclerc said at the previous in Canada that when people talk about him as a future Ferrari driver "it only makes me smile, but on the other hand it doesn't feel realistic for now".

He added: "When it will be time to think about next year I will think about it, and hopefully we have an opportunity to take that seat."

Ferrari is ready to replace Kimi Raikkonen with rising star Charles Leclerc in its Formula 1 driver line-up for 2019, Motorsport.com has learned.

Raikkonen, who turns 39 in October, earned a one-year contract extension with the Italian team last year.

However, Ferrari president Sergio Marchionne said in December that the 2007 world champion needed more consistency and that "probably this [2018] is the last season to find the right key".

Raikkonen enjoyed a strong start to 2018, scoring three podiums in the first four races and performing much closer to Sebastian Vettel's level than in previous seasons.

However, he has finished off the podium in the previous two races in Monaco and Canada, while Vettel scored a second and a victory to take the championship lead.

Motorsport.com understands that Ferrari considered replacing Raikkonen with current Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo, who is out-of-contract at the end of 2018.

However, it decided that the cost of hiring the Australian would be too high when combined with Vettel's existing salary.

That left it with a choice between Raikkonen, who is still Ferrari's most recent world champion but is yet to win a race since rejoining the team in 2014, and Leclerc, who is contesting his rookie F1 season with Sauber.

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Such is the “toxic” atmosphere at McLaren that staff would consider going on strike were it not for the fear of losing their jobs.

Last week it emerged that all is not well at McLaren.

Sportsmail reported that staff at Woking are planning a “revolt” as they are furious at the “incompetence of their leaders.”

This led to former Martin Whitmarsh, saying he is opening to stepping in and sorting McLaren out.

But while the Woking team hit back at that, telling Sky Sports that his comments are “ill-judged and ill-informed”, an employee at the team has now spoken out about the “toxic” environment that sees hard-working staff rewards with 25p Freddo bars.

The employee, speaking under the guarantee of anonymity, told the Daily Mail: “We have been working all hours of the day, sweating blood, and they give us 25p Freddo bars.

“The management hand them to the supervisors to divide them out to employees in their team. Strictly one each.”

He added: “The Freddos are handed out when a package is produced on a tight schedule.

“For example, we were given two weeks to produce the Spain upgrade package in May.

“We all worked 24/7 to meet the deadline. We got it done in time. So a week later a Freddo was handed out to all staff involved as “a bonus”. Supervisors are embarrassed to hand them out.

“We also got a Freddo last year after building the car.”

The Daily Mail’s report added that bosses had ‘appealed to staff to build prototypes out of wood if they had any ideas how’ to fix what is wrong with McLaren’s MCL32.

“That shows how clueless they are,” the source added. “They told us at the post-Canadian Grand Prix debrief that they knew what was wrong with the car but not how to fix it. They ask us when they are on six-figure salaries.

“We call four of the management the “Untouchables”. There is Eric Boullier, racing director, Matt Morris, chief engineer, Simon Roberts, chief operating officer, and David Probyn, operations director. Some of them just walk about chatting. We have no respect for them.

“People are beginning to boycott the debriefs because they are a joke. The atmosphere is toxic. We would like to go on strike but people fear for their jobs.”

McLaren, though, insists all is well within the team.

“McLaren has one of the most loyal and long-serving staff in the entire motorsport industry. Our team leaders are free to reward their staff with spontaneous, thoughtful and fun gifts whenever they feel that a job or task is worthy of extra recognition and reward. This was just such an example, alongside so many others that happen on a daily basis.”