Ricciardo’s place on the grid has become a key topic following comments from Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko in the Austrian press.
Marko suggested that, since the Red Bull Racing drive is now off the table courtesy of Sergio Perez, Ricciardo’s presence at RB doesn’t make sense.
That has sparked a new wave of speculation that the Australian could be ousted from his seat before the end of the year in favour of Liam Lawson.
Asked directly whether Ricciardo was safe until the end of the year, Horner danced around the topic in his response.
“Anything regarding drivers are going to be dealt with in-house before we talk to the media about it,” the Red Bull Racing team principal said.
“They’re all Red Bull Racing drivers, and every Red Bull driver knows that there’s always a pressure, that there’s always a scrutiny.
Secure your spot today.
“But Daniel’s in the seat and it’s down to him to make the most of that.
“And then, it’s always, as we see in Formula 1, things are always fluid.”
Ricciardo signed with Red Bull Racing as third driver for 2023 after losing his drive with McLaren at the end of the preceding season.
He was promoted back into a race seat at RB following a tyre test at Silverstone in the days following the British Grand Prix.
As part of his return, the 34-year-old targeted the second Red Bull Racing drive as his end goal.
However, with Perez locked in for at least next season, Ricciardo has conceded his options are limited and he needs to lift his performances to safeguard his future.
“He knew this was a lifeline,” Horner mentioned of the RB drive.
“I’m sure, by his own admission, the first part of the season didn’t go to plan, but he’s started to show signs of the old Daniel.
“We saw it in Miami, certainly the first part of the weekend there. We saw it in Montreal.
“But Formula 1, there’s always pressure. He knows that better than anyone, and particularly in Red Bull.
“Daniel is more than aware of that.”
Bayer, who is CEO of RB, also danced around the topic when he was presented with the same opportunity to rule out a move to replace Ricciardo mid-season.
Instead, he chose to turn the focus to Lawson, who is widely tipped to be the man to replace the eight-time race winner if a change is indeed made.
“Liam is part of the team. He is our test driver. He’s in the simulator… He’ll be in the TPC [testing previous car],” he pointed out.
“We do our job to develop young drivers, but the decision on the second seat will be taken quietly, and we’re not in a hurry.”
However, Bayer did insinuate a change was unlikely before the summer shutdown, which follows the Belgian Grand Prix next month.
“As Chrisitan said, this is about performance,” he explained.
“We do, luckily, have a couple of options with the junior programme, but we’re also not in a hurry to take a decision for next year’s lineup.
“We’ve confirmed Yuki [Tsunoda], which was very important for us.
“Focus currently, honestly, as you can tell, it on the car and to go into the summer break and have a quiet discussion.”
Ricciardo qualified 16th fastest for the Austrian Sprint, failing to progress to the second phase of the three-part qualifying session by 0.024s.
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