Horner: Ricciardo Aims to Replace Perez for 2025

 

Team boss Christian Horner stated on Tuesday that Daniel Ricciardo hopes to take over Sergio Perez's position at Red Bull once the Mexican's contract expires. The 34-year-old Australian is making his Formula One comeback with Red Bull-owned AlphaTauri in Hungary this weekend, following his departure from McLaren last season and serving as Red Bull's reserve driver.

Ricciardo previously raced for Red Bull Racing from 2014 to 2018, securing seven of his eight wins with the team based in the UK. Sergio Perez, who joined Red Bull in 2021, has a contract that runs until the end of 2024.

Horner revealed, "Ricciardo firmly wants to be considered for the 2025 Red Bull seat. That's his goal and objective. He sees going to AlphaTauri as the best way to present his case for 2025," as he spoke on Formula One's F1 Nation podcast.

Ricciardo has replaced the under-performing Dutch rookie Nyck de Vries, who failed to score a point this year, at the bottom-placed AlphaTauri. However, Horner clarified that Ricciardo's current arrangement is only in place until the end of the season, and there are no plans beyond that. Red Bull's drivers for the next year will be Max Verstappen and Checo Perez again, but having talented drivers in reserve is always beneficial.

Red Bull has been dominating the season, winning every race, with Verstappen leading the championship, 99 points ahead of Perez, after securing eight victories out of the ten races.

Perez's form has led to speculation that he might not complete the full term of his contract. Last week, the decision to drop De Vries was considered harsh, especially since it came before the Dutch driver had a chance to race in his home event at Zandvoort in August. However, Horner explained that delaying the decision didn't make sense, and the firing happened around 11 laps into Ricciardo's impressive tyre test for Pirelli after the British Grand Prix.

Horner added, "That would have meant obviously leaving him in the car until after the summer break. I think the situation was clear. It was a question of OK, what's the point in waiting? If we've got to do something, we might as well get on with it and give Daniel 12 races to see what he's capable of."