Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner has confirmed an eye is being kept on Lando Norris to become Max Verstappen's next teammate but insisted the team's junior pool will be assessed first.
Norris has impressed for McLaren in recent seasons and has often been Verstappen's nearest challenger since the Woking-based outfit introduced a major upgrade package at the Austrian Grand Prix following a difficult start to the campaign.
Since then, the Briton has secured four podiums - including at the past two races - to move up to seventh in the Drivers' standings behind only both Red Bull drivers, both Ferrari drivers, Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton and Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso.
His performances have led to suggestions of a possible switch to Red Bull to replace Sergio Perez in the near future, given the Mexican's struggles alongside Verstappen this term.
Perez is contracted for next season which means any move would come in 2025 - the final year of Norris' existing McLaren contract.
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Talent pool
Horner has previously revealed talks in the past over a potential switch to Red Bull for Norris.
Asked whether he was on the radar for a future move to replace Perez, Horner told Sky Sports: "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.
"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.
"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. 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 that will come from 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."
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