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Tost prefers Red Bull talents to Ricciardo at AlphaTauri
Daniel Ricciardo is theoretically an option for AlphaTauri, but Franz Tost prefers not to have to use that option. According to Motorsport-total.com, the Austrian would look more towards the talents from Red Bull's training programme.
Ricciardo is back under contract with Red Bull Racing in 2023, so there is a look at whether he could be in action with one of the Red Bull teams in the future. The Australian himself has made no secret of his desire to return to the sport as a driver, but it does not look like he will get a seat at Red Bull.
Red Bull training
At Red Bull Racing, Max Verstappen (2028) and Sergio Perez (2024) are under contract for longer, and Christian Horner already revealed that there is no racing seat clause in Ricciardo's contract. At AlphaTauri, Ricciardo is theoretically an option to fill a seat, but Tost prefers to look at other options.
The AlphaTauri team boss points to AlphaTauri's role within the entire Red Bull training programme, in which Red Bull Racing's sister team has to prepare talents for the top of Formula 1. It has done so before with numerous talents such as Sebastian Vettel, Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen.
Can Lawson make the step?
However, there are few talents in the Red Bull training programme at the moment that really stand out. The start of the Formula 2 season in Bahrain was disappointing for the six Red Bull talents, but Tost has his eyes on another Red Bull talent: Liam Lawson. Tost stressed that the New Zealander made a good impression when testing for the team, but he will first have to win in Japan.
After finishing third in the 2022 F2 championship, Lawson has been sent to Super Formula by Red Bull. There, he needs to prove he can perform consistently, whereas in F2, he still had too many peaks and troughs. The 21-year-old driver certainly has talent. For instance, he won five races in F2 and finished second in the DTM. A title there seemed a certainty, until he was driven off the track in the last race by Kelvin van der Linde.
