Christian Horner opens up on ‘inevitability’ of Daniel Ricciardo’s Visa Cash App RB future

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Christian Horner has confirmed that Red Bull will discuss dropping Daniel Ricciardo from the Visa Cash App RB line-up to run Liam Lawson for the rest of the F1 season.

The Red Bull team principal has opened up on the ‘inevitability’ of needing to discuss what future Ricciardo holds in Formula 1. The second Visa Cash App RB seat beside Yuki Tsunoda is one of only two still available for 2025 but Audi is set to re-sign Valtteri Bottas for Sauber.

It is a straight shootout between Ricciardo and Lawson for the RB drive with Red Bull eager to see what the latter can produce in the same car. So, this weekend’s Singapore Grand Prix is expected to be Ricciardo’s farewell – at least for now – before Lawson arrives in America.

Christian Horner admits it is ‘inevitable’ to debate dropping Daniel Ricciardo from RB

Horner has admitted that talks about Ricciardo’s RB future are inevitable now as Formula 1 has a three-week break after the Singapore GP. It is, therefore, potentially the ideal time to prepare Lawson to make his campaign debut in the United States Grand Prix on October 20.

READ MORE: Visa Cash App RB driver Daniel Ricciardo’s life outside F1 from net worth to girlfriend

But the Red Bull team principal is keen to stress that Ricciardo moving aside for Lawson will not be a stain on his CV. Instead, it is simply the team from Milton Keynes wanting to check they have the best possible driver line-up at sister outfit Visa Cash App RB in the 2025 term.

“There is a much bigger picture than just Daniel as we continue to look at all of our options as we move forward,” Horner told Sky Sports F1 (21/9, 13:35). “Now there’s a natural break with effectively a month’s gap to the next race, so it’s only natural that you take stock.”

He continued: “It’s not to the detriment of Daniel, we know how he’s performed. We’ve got a lot of data and a lot of knowledge about where Daniel is. It’s a much bigger picture within the whole driver merry-go-round of what does the future look like.

“So, inevitably, we’ll sit down and we’ll sit down during this three-week period of off-time and consider all of those options.”

Qualifying P16 for the Singapore Grand Prix was not what Daniel Ricciardo needed

If Red Bull are to move Ricciardo aside to run Lawson at Visa Cash App RB for the rest of the season, the Australian will want to go out on a high in the Singapore GP. But the 35-year-old has left himself with a tough task to make a lasting impression after qualifying down in P16.

Ricciardo missed out on a spot in Q2 by 0.127 seconds to Alpine driver Esteban Ocon, while Tsunoda finished the first stage of qualifying in P10. Three tenths of a second separated the RB teammates in Q1, and Tsunoda went on to end the day in P8 after getting through to Q3.

Tsunoda was the slowest driver to post a legal time in Q3 after Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz crashed and Charles Leclerc lost his only effort for exceeding track limits. But the 24-year-old proved Visa Cash App RB had a car quick enough for Q3, while Ricciardo would not make it into Q2.