Daniel Ricciardo could replace Sergio Perez at Red Bull when the Mexican’s contract ends, team boss Christian Horner said on Tuesday.
The 34-year-old Australian will begin his return to Formula 1 with Red Bull-owned AlphaTauri in Hungary this weekend, after leaving McLaren last season and serving as a reserve at Red Bull.
Ricciardo raced for Red Bull Racing from 2014 to 2018, winning seven of his eight wins with the British team. Perez, who joined the team in 2021, has a contract until the end of 2024.
“He (Ricciardo) wants to firmly position himself for Red Bull’s 2025 spot. This is its goal and its objective. Going to AlphaTauri I think he sees as the best way to present his case for 2025,” Horner told Formula One’s F1 Nation podcast.
Ricciardo replaced Dutch rookie Nyck de Vries, who has not scored a single point this year, at bottom-run AlphaTauri with 12 of the season’s 22 races remaining.
“Right now there’s only something in place until the end of the season, so there are no ideas or expectations beyond that,” Horner said.
“We loaned him to AlphaTauri until the end of the year. Obviously our drivers will be Max (Verstappen) and Checo (Perez) again next year, but it’s always good to have talent in reserve.
