Christian Horner weighs in on Daniel Ricciardo future after Helmut Marko hint

RB’s Daniel Ricciardo arrives in the Austrian GP paddock.

The future of Daniel Ricciardo at RB hangs in the balance after Helmut Marko indicated Liam Lawson is set to take his seat.

Heading into the Austrian Grand Prix weekend, the Red Bull consultant said that Kiwi driver Liam Lawson is set to succeed Daniel Ricciardo in the RB seat.

Christian Horner: Any driver decisions will be dealt with in-house

According to Austrian publication Kleine Zeitung, Marko has revealed that the energy drink’s shareholders are keen to see RB return to its roots as a team to train young drivers, having produced the likes of Max Verstappen and Sebastian Vettel in its previous Toro Rosso guise.

And that, he says, means RB “will have to” turn to Lawson in the near future.

He said: “The shareholders have made it clear that it is a junior team and we have to act accordingly.

“The goal was that [Ricciardo] would be considered for Red Bull Racing with exceptional performances. That seat now belongs to Sergio Perez, so that plan is no longer valid.

“We will have to put a young driver in there soon. That would be Liam Lawson.”

PlanetF1.com understands Red Bull is yet to exercise its option on Lawson, but a resolution could be made before the summer break to secure his future – whether that is for a 2025 race seat, or a potential mid-season swap remains to be seen.

But, addressing the prospects of a potential driver swap at RB and whether Ricciardo’s seat truly is in danger, Red Bull team boss Christian Horner said the Australian still has time to deliver.

“I think anything regarding drivers are going to be dealt with in-house before we talk to the media about it,” he said.

“They’re all Red Bull racing drivers and every Red Bull driver knows that there’s always a pressure, that there’s always a scrutiny but Daniel is in the seat and it’s down to him to make the most of that and then it’s always, as we see in Formula 1, things are always fluid.”

RB team boss Peter Bayer, sitting alongside Horner during the Friday press conference in Austria, echoed his colleague’s stance and said Lawson’s progress within the team is keeping him in the conversation for the second seat.

“Liam is part of the team, he’s our test driver. He’s in the simulator,” he said.

“He’ll be in the TPC (testing of previous cars), we’ll do our job to develop young drivers but the decision on the second seat will be taken quietly and we’re not in a hurry.”

But Bayer made a point of emphasising just how much of a contribution Ricciardo has made to the team since stepping in to replace Nyck de Vries last year.

“Well, he certainly has helped us tremendously,” he said.

“Looking back last year when he joined the team, he brought a whole new energy and spirit into the team and he has been extremely helpful in supporting Yuki [Tsunoda].

“Yuki has just stated that very recently, actually, that he still keeps learning from Daniel and it’s part of our job as as a mission from the shareholders to develop drivers.

“That’s what we currently do. Certainly, this is about performance. We do, luckily, have a couple of options with the junior programme, but we’re also not in a hurry to take a decision for next year’s lineup.

“We’ve confirmed Yuki, which was very important for us and the focus currently, honestly, as you can tell, is on the car, and to go into the summer break and have a quiet discussion.”