Horner: Ricciardo pitching for 2025 Red Bull F1 seat

The 34-year-old Australian will be starting his Formula One comeback with Red Bull-owned AlphaTauri in Hungary this weekend after leaving McLaren last season and serving as Red Bull reserve.

Ricciardo raced for Red Bull Racing from 2014-18, taking seven of his eight wins with the British-based team. Perez, who joined in 2021, has a contract to the end of 2024. Bothe drivers have experienced the perils of being Max Verstappen's teammate. Both well beaten by the Dutch ace upon which the team is built around.

"He (Ricciardo) firmly wants to be pitching for that 2025 Red Bull seat. That's his goal and objective. By going to AlphaTauri I think he sees that as his best route for stating his case for 2025," Horner told F1 Nation podcast.

Ricciardo has replaced under-performing Dutch rookie Nyck de Vries, who failed to score a point this year, at bottom-placed AlphaTauri with 12 of the season's 22 races remaining.

Horner said: "At the moment, there's only something in place until the end of the season, so there are no thoughts or expectations beyond that. We've loaned him to AlphaTauri to the end of the year. Obviously, our drivers are going to be Max (Verstappen) and Checo (Perez) again next year, but it's always good to have talent in reserve."

Red Bull have dominated the 2023 F1 season, winning every race thus far, and notably, Verstappen is a hefty 99 points clear of Perez after winning eight of the 10. The Mexican's sudden dip in form has led to speculation that he too might not see out the full term of his contract.

Last week's axing of De Vries was seen as particularly harsh since it came a mere 1o races with the team and before the Dutch driver had a chance to race in his home race at Zandvoort in August but Horner said delaying the decision made no sense.

He revealed also that the firing came about 11 laps into Ricciardo's impressive tyre test for Pirelli after the British Grand Prix. "That would have meant obviously leaving him in the car until after the summer break

"I think the situation was clear. It was a question of OK, what's the point in waiting? If we've got to do something, we might as well get on with it and give Daniel 12 races to see what he's capable of," revealed Horner.

At this weekend's Hungarian Grand Prix, Ricciardo is set to return to the F1 grid after a ten-race absence, for his 233rd Grand Prix start and with it resume a career that boasts 32 podium finishes, eight times as a winner.

Winner of the race at Hungaroring in 2014 for Red Bull, Ricciardo's first order of business is to beat AlphaTauri teammate Yuki Tsunoda from day one; one of his rivals for the RBR drive if Perez departs at the end of 2024.