Christian Horner has defended Red Bull's chassis after Daniel Ricciardo said the team is lacking as much from the RB11 as it is from Renault's power unit.
Ricciardo endured a difficult return to the scene of his maiden grand prix win, qualifying ninth and then finishing 13th - a result he branded a "new low" for himself and the team in 2015. On Saturday a "pissed off" Ricciardo suggested the chassis was as equally culpable as the power unit for his lack of competitiveness at the high-speed Gilles Villeneuve circuit.
However, Horner defended Red Bull's chassis and reiterated his long-held belief the majority of the problem comes from the Renault engine.
"Our deficit I would say is 80-85% power unit and 15-20% chassis and there are some characteristics of the chassis that we are working on and will improve but it tends to become a vicious circle," he said.
The Red Bull team boss said it is more than natural to see a competitive racer like Ricciardo, who won three races including Montreal in 2014, making negative comments in the heat of the moment after a disappointing session.
"I think there was a bit of frustration in his comments, that he wasn't happy with his performance, that he had been out-qualified by his team-mate when expectation here, particularly after last year, were high. We have made progress with the chassis and we have brought development and improvement to the chassis really since Malaysia and at each grand prix, and we have a lot more in the pipeline throughout the year.
"I think we still have a weakness in the slow speed corners compared to last year's car and I think the nose regulation changes have affected us in that area, but I think the guys are getting a good grip on that now and over the next few races we should see further steps with the chassis. The good thing is that, every two weeks, you can update the car and bring more performance to it whereas, with the engine, everything is a lot longer lead time."
Asked whether Canada once again exposed the massive engine gap between Mercedes and the rest, Horner replied: "Massively! You've got a Force India and Lotus that probably haven't been touched since Melbourne [ahead of us] and it's just a different race. The power unit influence is highlighted more than anywhere here and, unfortunately, Austria, the next race, is probably the most power-dependent circuit on the calendar."