Does Horner want to bring Sainz to Red Bull? 'The market is very open at the moment'

With the expiring contract of Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing has a lot of work to do thinking about what its driver line-up will look like next year. Daniel Ricciardo appears to be in the race for the seat, but Yuki Tsunoda has also since expressed his hope that Red Bull will consider him for the seat. Christian Horner will tell more about the situation surrounding the second Red Bull seat after the Australian Grand Prix. In doing so, he also hints at Carlos Sainz.

Tsunoda has made an excellent start to the new season. In Australia, the Japanese scored his first six points after a good qualifying session on Saturday. Ricciardo finished outside the points, partly because he exceeded a track limit during qualifying during his fastest lap in Q1.

Horner backs Ricciardo

"He's had a tough weekend," Horner began about the Australian. "I haven't really looked at his race. It looked like he had a pretty similar pace to Yuki in the race. He had a tough day yesterday, getting that lap disallowed. So I just want to give him a bit of encouragement."

When Horner was asked if the Visa Cash App RB driver needed encouragement, he answered, "He's a big boy, he'll pick himself up. But sometimes, being a Formula One driver can be a bit lonely, so a bit of encouragement is never a bad thing." Whether Ricciardo will lose his chance of the Red Bull seat with the current performance, Horner does not yet know: "It's still very early in the year to even be thinking about."

Horner hints at Sainz as possible successor of Perez

Tsunoda is performing better and expressed on Saturday after qualifying that he hopes Red Bull will consider him for 2025. Horner says: "Yuki's a very quick driver, we know that. But I think we want to field the best pairing that we can in Red Bull racing. Sometimes you've got to look outside the pool as well. We’ve had a very fast, unemployed driver win today. The market is reasonably fluid with certain people."