Red Bull clarify details around Daniel Ricciardo and Liam Lawson’s ‘shootout’ F1 test

Red Bull boss Christian Horner insists Daniel Ricciardo and Liam Lawson’s upcoming F1 test is simply a “filming day”, declaring “it’s all about content”.

Ricciardo and Lawson will be driving a 2024 VCARB F1 car at Imola this week.

The test has been dubbed a ‘shootout’ to see which driver potentially replaces Sergio Perez at Red Bull for the remainder of the 2024 F1 season.

Perez has struggled for form in recent months, scoring just 28 points in the last eight races.

His dip in form has put Red Bull’s position at the top of the F1 constructors’ championship in jeopardy.

Speaking to media, including Crash.net, after the race at Spa, Horner clarified the details around the upcoming test.

“It’s a filming day, so they’ll be filming. It’s all about content,” Horner said.

“It is in the current car, because you can do 200 km in the current car. So they’ll both be doing plenty of filming.”

Horner clarified that it’s just a filming day - and not a tyre test.

“It’s a filming day, yes,” he added.

Assessing Ricciardo’s performance more generally, he said: “I think he’s done alright.

“I haven’t looked at the race, I only saw the end result that he was 11th [10th after Russell’s DSQ], and starting on the soft tire, he’s obviously driven a good race.”

Horner is understood to be meeting Helmut Marko on Monday to discuss the situation at Red Bull.

It wouldn’t be the first time Red Bull have made a change mid-season with Max Verstappen replacing Daniil Kvyat ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix in 2016.

Alex Albon replaced Pierre Gasly in 2019 during the summer break.

Horner insists the “priority” is to still continue to support Perez.

“We’re in a great position where we’ve got all the info,” he explained. “The priority is to support Checo, and to understand what he needs.

“We all want him to turn it around, we want to see him deliver.”