Red Bull team principal Christian Horner admits the decision to replace Daniel Ricciardo with Liam Lawson is due to uncertainty over Sergio Perez’s claim to his seat in 2025.
Ricciardo made his final appearance for RB in Singapore, and Lawson will race for the team for the remaining six grands prix of the F1 season. That move comes in tandem with Perez having struggled for form for the majority of this year, and Horner said the occupant of the Red Bull seat alongside Max Verstappen could change in 2025 despite Perez having a contract in place.
“Of course in a perfect world that’s what we would have done [allow Ricciardo to finish the season], but from a broader perspective we need answers for the bigger picture in terms of drivers,” Horner told the F1 Nation podcast. “And with six races remaining it’s the perfect opportunity to line Liam up alongside Yuki [Tsunoda], to see how he performs over the remaining six grands prix.
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“This goes beyond VCARB, it encompasses Red Bull Racing. Obviously we have a contract with Sergio for next year, but you’ve always got to have an eye out in terms of what comes next. Is that going to be Liam? Or do we need to look outside the pool? Or will one of the other juniors step up in the fullness of time, whether it’s Isack Hadjar or Arvid Lindblad?”
When it was put to Horner that he has been more ruthless with Ricciardo than he has been with Perez, the team principal said Helmut Marko was keen to replace the Australian far earlier in the season.
“I’ve done my very best to buy him as much time in the car to allow him to deliver, otherwise he would have been out of the car after Barcelona,” he said.
“All the drivers are under pressure to deliver, but the reason that Daniel was in that car was to get himself back into a position to ultimately be there to pick up the pieces if Checo didn’t deliver. And the problem was they both had issues with form at varying times, Checo started the season very well, very strongly, and Daniel was struggling. And then as Checo lost form, Daniel found a bit of form, but it was never compelling enough to say ‘OK we should switch the two drivers’.”
Horner said his ideal scenario will be that Perez improves so that he can retain his seat at Red Bull in 2025, but he even hinted that Ricciardo could still be called upon in future.
“Obviously [ideally] Checo finds his form and rediscovers the shape he was in at the beginning of the year and nothing changes,” Horner said. “But as we know, in this business two weeks is long-term.
“We’ve made it very clear that we want [Ricciardo] to remain in an ambassadorial capacity with the team, and of course one never really knows. I mean, if Liam doesn’t get the job done, if Checo doesn’t get the job done, we know what Daniel’s capability is.
“But I think for him, he knows, at the age that he’s at, he’s had a great career. So many memories. The most disgusting thing ever was drinking champagne out of his sweaty boot! But he made it his own and he got some incredible people to drink the champagne from his sweaty shoe.”