Daniel Ricciardo out to replace Sergio Perez for 2025, says Red Bull boss Christian Horner
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Daniel Ricciardo (left) reportedly hopes to replace Red Bull's Sergio Perez once the Mexican driver's contract expires in 2024.
PHOTOS: AFP
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LONDON – Daniel Ricciardo hopes to replace Sergio Perez at Red Bull once the Mexican’s contract ends, team boss Christian Horner said on Tuesday.
The 34-year-old Australian will be starting his Formula One comeback with Red Bull-owned AlphaTauri in Hungary this weekend after leaving McLaren last season and serving as Red Bull reserve.
Ricciardo raced for Red Bull Racing from 2014 to 2018, taking seven of his eight wins with the British-based team. Perez, who joined in 2021, has a contract till the end of 2024.
“He (Ricciardo) firmly wants to be pitching for that 2025 Red Bull seat. That’s his goal and objective. By going to AlphaTauri, I think he sees that as his best route for stating his case for 2025,” Horner told Formula One’s F1 Nation podcast.
Ricciardo has replaced underperforming Dutch rookie Nyck de Vries, who failed to score a point in 2023, at bottom-placed AlphaTauri with 12 of the season’s 22 races remaining.
“At the moment, there’s only something in place until the end of the season, so there are no thoughts or expectations beyond that,” said Horner.
“We’ve loaned him to AlphaTauri to the end of the year. Obviously, our drivers are going to be Max (Verstappen) and Checo (Perez) again next year, but it’s always good to have talent in reserve.”
Red Bull have dominated the season, winning every race, but Verstappen is a hefty 99 points clear of Perez after winning eight of the 10 grands prix.
The Mexican’s form has led to speculation that he too might not see out the full term of his contract.
Daniel Ricciardo has replaced Dutch driver Nyck De Vries (above, right) at Alpha Tauri.
PHOTO: AFP
Last week’s axing of de Vries was seen as particularly harsh since it came before the Dutch driver had a chance to race in his home race at Zandvoort in August but Horner said delaying the decision made no sense.
He revealed also that the firing came about 11 laps into Ricciardo’s impressive tyre test for Pirelli after the British Grand Prix.
“That would have meant obviously leaving him in the car until after the summer break,” he said.
“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.”
Like de Vries, Jaime Alguersuari drove for Red Bull’s feeder team, when it was known as Toro Rosso, from 2009 to 2011 but was let go at the end of the season despite outperforming his teammate Sebastien Buemi and registering seven top-10 finishes.
Alguersuari suggested the team do not always treat their junior drivers fairly.
The 33-year-old Spaniard told Sky Sports: “The way they act is sometimes not fair. What they did with me... It was not decided on results, it was decided on commercial and other interesting things. But that’s the way F1 works and you have to accept it.”
On de Vries’ situation, he added: “He had very little races to show his total performance. I’m sure there was much more coming from Nyck. If there was no growth of performance from the first race to the last, they have the right to do that (to be dropped).” REUTERS
