Horner keeps the Red Bull door open for Ricciardo: 'We know what he can do'

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Red Bull team boss Horner wants to keep Ricciardo in F1
1 October at 21:00
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  • Nicole Mulder

Christian Horner hopes to keep Daniel Ricciardo within the Red Bull Racing family. Initially in the ambassador role, but the team boss does not rule out more for Max Verstappen's former teammate. This will partly depend on the performances from Sergio Perez and Liam Lawson during the rest of this Formula 1 season.

Perez made it more than clear through a tweet - in which he quoted Leonardo DiCaprio in the film The Wolff of Wall Street: "I'm not f***ing leaving!" Whether the Mexican can be so sure of his Formula 1 seat alongside Max Verstappen after this season, however, remains to be seen. Horner stresses that the performance of all Red Bull and VCARB drivers is under constant evaluation and that there are plenty of young talented drivers ready to take over should the need arise.

"Obviously if Checo finds his form and rediscovers the shape he was in at the beginning of the year, nothing changes," Horner said in the F1 Nation podcast. "But as we know, in this business two weeks is long-term." The Red Bull team boss stressed that not only Liam Lawson, but also junior drivers Isack Hadjar (Red Bull's new test driver) and Arvid Lindblad are in line.

Horner keen to keep Ricciardo in Red Bull family

Horner hopes Ricciardo wants to remain part of the Red Bull family. Initially, in the ambassador role but the team boss does not rule out more. "We’ve made it very clear that we want him 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," Horner concluded.

This article has been created in collaboration with Matt Gretton