The Red Bull boss speaks to Sky Sports News about a range of topics, including the driver market for 2025; plus: when AlphaTauri's Daniel Ricciardo will return from injury - and singing Wonderwall in a Japanese bar! watch more next week ahead of Qatar GP
Thursday 28 September 2023 15:16, UK
Christian Horner says Red Bull have received "quite a bit of interest" about 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 principal discussed a range of topics - including driver matters, both short and longer-term.
Speculation about what Red Bull might do with the second seat at their team for 2025 continues to abound. Sergio Perez is on a deal which runs out at the end of 2024 and he will be up against in-house alternatives Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda - who are both staying on at sister outfit AlphaTauri for next season - and Liam Lawson for the seat next to Verstappen.
Lando Norris has also long been viewed as a prime external contender although his deal at resurgent McLaren runs to the end of 2025.
Asked specifically about Norris with McLaren having indicated last week in Japan that they were already having "good conversations" with the Briton about 2026, Horner replied: "Lando's a great driver. He's a big talent, big personality and of course he's one of those drivers that you keep an eye on.
"But there's many drivers that you keep an eye on as well. There's a generation of drivers out there at the moment that have got a huge amount of talent.
"Now, being Max's team-mate is never going to be easy and some drivers may be up for that challenge, some may not be. But, of course, as well as the drivers we have in-house we keep an eye on all the driver market.
"As you can imagine, there's quite a bit of interest from certain sectors about driving a Red Bull car."
Horner added: "Max is operating at such a level that his confidence, his commitment, his talent is absolute at the moment and it's difficult to envisage somebody beating him in the same equipment. But there's some great talent out there and of course what we want is the best two drivers we can possibly field.
"So ideally that will come from within the talent pool that we have, and if we don't believe there's that capability we will look outside of that as to who's available."
Ricciardo is currently sidelined from racing with AlphaTauri while he recovers from the broken bone in his hand that he sustained in an accident at the Dutch GP on August 25.
The Australian has missed the last three full race weekends as a result, with Lawson filling in.
"I would say probably less likely than likely at the moment," Horner said when asked if Ricciardo would return in Qatar.
"His recuperation is going well but he's fixed in the seat for next year, does he need to rush a hasty return for Qatar where maybe another couple of weeks for Austin, which is a hell of a bumpy circuit anyway, it might be better to use that time in preparation for Austin.
"I know he's got his sights fixed on Qatar, he'll drive the simulator next week and then we'll make some decisions based on that."
On Lawson, Horner said that the had been impressed by 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 been given any guarantees about a 2025 seat at one of their two teams, Horner replied: "There is no guarantees of anything in life. He's done a great job; he's really impressed us.
"He's done exactly what we could have asked for in terms of grabbing the opportunity in Daniel's absence to really show his capability. That's turned some heads and it's done him a lot of good.
"We'll keep developing him when he goes back into that test and reserve role and he'll be a candidate certainly for 2025."
Meanwhile, Perez, the driver in possession of the seat next to Verstappen right now, has experienced a torrid run of form in his team-mate's dominant wake but has received the backing of his team boss.
One hundred and seventy-seven points behind Verstappen, Perez's advantage in second place over third-placed Lewis Hamilton shrunk to 33 points after a dismal weekend in Japan when he retired after several collisions and penalties.
"He's got at least a one race weekend sort of [points] 'buffer' to Lewis and greater than that to Fernando [Alonso] behind him," said Horner of the points standings.
"It's something that we've never achieved; we've never finished first and second with any of our drivers in the world championship so it would be a big thing for us to achieve.
"He came close last year, it would be his best-ever result, and he's got the best car that he's ever had to be able to try and achieve that result.
"Japan was frustrating and difficult for him, but he'll bounce back. I'm sure there's enough races with the six grands prix remaining for him still to achieve some great results between now and the end of the season."
Horner was speaking to Sky Sports' Craig Slater at Red Bull's Milton Keynes headquarters days after the team clinched their sixth Constructors' Championship amid one of the most dominant seasons in F1's history.
Verstappen is poised to wrap up his third successive drivers' title at the Qatar GP next weekend, most likely as early as the 19-lap Sprint on Saturday October 7. Perez is the only other driver left in distant mathematical contention.
Horner posted a video on his Instagram account on Monday of him celebrating the constructors' title alongside team members at a bar in Tokyo, featuring a rendition of Oasis' song Wonderwall.
"We've got an incredible team and you've always got to celebrate success and enjoy special moments together as a team," said Horner.
"We've got a few musicians that we didn't know about in the team, and everybody [was] getting involved.
"This year has been the most amazing season and I'm sure we'll have a good party at the end of it where we can get the whole team together. Yesterday we got everybody together in this room [at their factory] to celebrate that Constructors' Championship."
Look out for more of the interview next week on Sky Sports' digital platforms and Sky Sports News.
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