Christian Horner makes 'perfect world' admission about Daniel Ricciardo

Horner lifts lid on Ricciardo's exit

After two seasons at McLaren, via a stint at Renault, Red Bull wanted to bring Ricciardo back to their family. He then replaced a struggling Nyck de Vries after 10 races in the 2023 season at VCARB. Ricciardo always made it clear he would like to get back into the seat alongside Max Verstappen but it never happened. Instead, Ricciardo struggled alongside Yuki Tsunoda and now Red Bull want to assess how Lawson will perform.

"In a perfect world, that's what we would have done," Horner said on the podcast F1 Nation. "But from a broader perspective, we need answers for the bigger picture in terms of drivers. There are six races remaining and it's a perfect opportunity to line Liam up alongside Yuki," said Horner, who was known to have always had a good relationship with Ricciardo.

What is the bigger picture?

So Lawson will drive for the remainder of 2024. Horner explains in the podcast whether Lawson - when it comes to the bigger picture - is already being prepared for Red Bull. "No, this goes beyond VCARB. It encompasses Red Bull Racing. We still have a contract with Sergio Perez for next year. But you always have to have an eye out in terms of what comes next. Is that going to be Liam? Do we need to look outside the pool? Will one of the other juniors step up, like Isack Hadjar and Arvid Lindblad?"

This article has been created in collaboration with Jeroen Immink