Christian Horner exclusive: Red Bull’s 2025 F1 driver options, Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo injury update

Christian Horner says Red Bull has received “quite a bit of interest” in the seat next to Max Verstappen for 2025.

Speaking in an interview with Sky Sports News Days after his team clinched the Constructors’ Championship in Japan, the Red Bull team boss discussed a range of topics including driver matters, both in the short and longer term.

Speculation about what Red Bull might do with the second seat in their 2025 team continues to abound. Sergio Perez has a contract that expires at the end of 2024 and will face internal alternatives Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda – both of whom will remain with sister team AlphaTauri next season – and Liam Lawson for the next seat. to Verstappen.

Lando Norris has also long been seen as a key external competitor, although his contract with the emerging McLaren runs until the end of 2025.

Asked about Norris, where McLaren had indicated last week in Japan that they were already having ‘good discussions’ with the Briton around 2026, Horner replied: ‘Lando is a great driver. He is a great talent, a great personality and of course he is one of those people. drivers you keep an eye on.

“But there are also many drivers that you keep an eye on. There is currently a generation of drivers that has enormous talent.

“Now it will never be easy being Max’s teammate and some drivers may be up for that challenge, others may not. But of course, in addition to the drivers we have in-house, we keep an eye on everyone. the driver market.

“As you can imagine, there is quite a bit of interest from certain sectors in driving a Red Bull car.”

Horner added: “Max is operating at such a level that his confidence, his dedication and his talent are absolute at the moment and it’s hard to imagine anyone beating him in the same kit. But there is great talent out there and Of course what we want are the best two drivers that we can possibly use.

“So ideally that will come from the talent pool that we have, and if we don’t believe that capacity is there, we’ll look outside to see who’s available.”

Ricciardo return to Qatar ‘less likely than likely’

Ricciardo is currently sidelined from racing with AlphaTauri as he recovers from the broken bone in his hand suffered in an accident during the Dutch GP on August 25.

The Australian has therefore missed the last three full race weekends, with Lawson coming in.

“I would say probably less likely than likely at the moment,” Horner said when asked whether Ricciardo would return to Qatar.

“His recovery is going well, but he is already locked into his seat for next year. Should he make a hasty return to Qatar, where perhaps a few weeks before Austin, which is an incredibly bumpy circuit anyway, it might be better to use that time in preparation for Austin.

“I know he has his sights set on Qatar. Next week he will drive in the simulator and we will make some decisions based on that.”

Lawson has ‘attracted some attention’, but no guarantee of 25 seats has been given

On Lawson, Horner said they have been impressed with the 21-year-old New Zealander so far.

Lawson will still return to a back-up role when Ricciardo returns and asked if the youngster has been given any guarantees about a place in either of their two teams in 2025, Horner replied: “There are no guarantees for anything in the life. He did a great job.” track; he really impressed us.

“He did exactly what we could have asked for: he took the opportunity in Daniel’s absence to really show his capabilities. That attracted a lot of attention and it did him a lot of good.”

“We will continue to develop him as he returns to that test and reserve role and he will certainly be a candidate for 2025.”

Horner backs Perez to ‘bounce back’

Meanwhile, Perez, the driver currently sitting alongside Verstappen, has experienced torrid form in his teammate’s dominant wake but has received the support of his team boss.

One hundred and seventy-seven points behind Verstappen, Perez’s lead over second-placed Lewis Hamilton shrank to 33 points after a dismal weekend in Japan, when he retired after several collisions and penalties.

“He has at least a kind of (points) ‘buffer’ of one race weekend ahead of Lewis and more than that ahead of Fernando (Alonso) behind him,” Horner said of the points standings.

“It’s something we’ve never achieved before; We have never finished first or second in the world championship with any of our drivers, so it would be something big for us to achieve this.

He came close last year, it would be his best result ever and he has the best car he has ever had to achieve that result.

“Japan was frustrating and difficult for him, but he will bounce back. I’m sure there are still enough races with six Grands Prix to go to get great results between now and the end of the season.”

Horner sings ‘Wonderwall’ in a Japanese bar!

Horner spoke to Sky Sports’ Craig Slater at Red Bull’s headquarters in Milton Keynes, days after the team clinched their sixth Constructors’ Championship amid one of the most dominant seasons in F1 history.

Verstappen is poised to complete his third consecutive drivers’ title at the Qatar GP next weekend, most likely during the 19-lap sprint on Saturday, October 7. Perez is the only other driver still in deep mathematical contention.

Horner posted a video to his Instagram account on Monday in which he and team members celebrated the constructors’ title in a bar in Tokyo, performing a rendition of Oasis’ song Wonderwall.

“We have a great team and you should always celebrate successes and enjoy special moments together as a team,” said Horner.

“We got some musicians on the team that we didn’t know anything about, and everyone got involved.

“This year has been the most amazing season and I am sure we will have a good party at the end where we can get the whole team together. Yesterday we gathered everyone in this room (in their factory) to celebrate. that constructors’ championship.”

Watch for more of the interview next week on the Sky Sports and Sky Sports News digital platforms.

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