Red Bull reveals Ricciardo's 'golden objective' for 2025

Red Bull Team Principal, Christian Horner, believes Daniel Ricciardo's "golden objective" is to move back to the team by 2025.

Ricciardo is replacing Nyck de Vries at the Hungarian Grand Prix after the Dutchman struggled to improve his performance on track and score points for the team.

The Australian has spent the first part of the year on the sidelines as a test and reserve driver for Red Bull, after agreeing to end his contract at McLaren early.

It is a gamble for the Australian as he seeks to return to a top team, having previously stated that he would not join a team that isn't capable of winning races.

Horner claims the move is now a stop-gap for Ricciardo, as he ultimately seeks to return to Red Bull in the near future.

"At the moment, there's only something in place until the end of the season. There are no thoughts and expectations beyond that," he told the F1 Nation podcast.

"We've loaned him to AlphaTauri until the end of the year, obviously our drivers are going to be Max and Checo again next year, but it's always good to have talent in reserve.

"I think [the way] Daniel is viewing AlphaTauri, he firmly wants to be pitching for that 2025 Red Bull seat as his golden objective.

"By going to AlphaTauri, I think he sees that as his best route of stating his case for for 2025."

Ricciardo 'most interesting option' for Red Bull

Red Bull has a stable of junior drivers including Liam Lawson, who is currently racing in Super Formula in Japan, who were likely better fits for their de facto junior F1 team.

But when evaluating the options, Horner felt that Ricciardo was a more "interesting option" for the team.

"It was becoming a difficult situation for Nyck de Vries because there was a high expectation on him. Whilst inexperienced in F1, he's obviously a very experienced driver," said Horner.

"I think that there was a general feeling that Nyck wasn't quite hitting the mark and then the question was, what's the options if we were to switch things around?

"From a Red Bull Racing perspective, the most interesting option for me was to see how Daniel performed. So that was the decision that was made, it all happened pretty quick, and here he is for the Hungarian Grand Prix."