Formula 1: Red Bull boss Christian Horner gives a Daniel Ricciardo injury update

After Ricciardo’s seat at AlphaTauri for next season was confirmed last week, Horner said the Australian did not need to rush a “hasty return” for next week’s race in Qatar.

Ricciardo has been sidelined since breaking his left hand in a practice crash at the Dutch Grand Prix last month, which required surgery to insert a plate and several screws.

Young Kiwi Liam Lawson has filled in for Ricciardo at AlphaTauri since Ricciardo’s accident.

While Horner said Ricciardo’s recovery was progressing well and the 34-year-old had his “sights fixed” on a Qatar return, he felt he would be better placed waiting until the following race in Austin, Texas, to get back behind the wheel.

But Horner said a decision would be made after Ricciardo drove the simulator next week.

“I would say probably less likely than likely at the moment,” Horner told Sky Sports News when asked if Ricciardo would return for the race 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.”

Ricciardo’s position on the F1 grid for next season was confirmed last week when AlphaTauri announced he would partner Yuki Tsunoda at the team.

The eight-time F1 race winner was parachuted into the AlphaTauri seat mid-year as sacked rookie Nyck De Vries’ replacement ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Horner’s update on Ricciardo came as he discussed Red Bull’s options for the seat next to world champion Verstappen for 2025.

Sergio Perez is contracted until the end of next year, but there is already plenty of discussion about who will partner the Dutch superstar beyond that.

Horner said Verstappen’s teammate would ideally come from “within the talent pool that we have”, but Red Bull was also keeping a close eye on “all the driver market”.

Lando Norris is one of the biggest names outside of that pool who has been regarded as a potential Red Bull target, although he is contracted at McLaren until the end of 2025.

Commenting on Norris, Horner said was a “big talent” who the team would “keep an eye on”.

“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,” Horner said.

“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 teammate 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 whoever the team decided on to partner Verstappen would likely have a hard time beating him given the standard he was setting on track.

“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,” Horner said.

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“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 it will come 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.”

Verstappen can potentially seal a third straight drivers’ championship at the Qatar Grand Prix after Red Bull secured the constructors’ championship in Japan.