Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo have been brought up as contenders to replace Sergio Perez by Red Bull’s senior advisor Dr Helmut Marko and star driver Max Verstappen, respectively.
Last week Helmut Marko described Norris as the “strongest of the young drivers.”
This follows the McLaren driver’s impressive display at the British Grand Prix, where he claimed second place behind Verstappen.
Meanwhile, Verstappen declared that his former teammate Daniel Ricciardo had been doing “an excellent job” serving as a reserve driver for Red Bull.
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The Dutchman said: “Sure, he struggled at McLaren, but I always thought talent doesn’t just go away.
“We quickly noticed how comfortable Daniel feels with us.
“Sometimes I ask him if he can try out a certain aspect of the setup for me that I find promising.
“Daniel’s opinion is important to me.”
AlphaTauri serves as Red Bull’s junior outfit and many believe that it will soon be time for Ricciardo, aged 33, to return to the big leagues.
The Australian will get a half-season with AlphaTauri and many will be watching to see if he returns to Red Bull racing next year.
Although Sergio Perez has a contract extending to the end of 2024, he has been flailing recently at Red Bull.
The Mexican driver has failed to make it into Q3 in five consecutive attempts and finished outside the top five at the British GP.
Amid all this speculation, however, Perez has remained defiant.
Speaking to Sky Deutschland, he said: “If I’m honest, I couldn’t care less.
“The whole team is behind me and they know what I can do. They know my potential and they support me.”
However, the list of drivers waiting in line to succeed Perez grows even longer.
Yuki Tsunoda’s name has previously been linked to Red Bull and the AlphaTauri driver has strengthened his case by outperforming teammate Nyck de Vries this season.
Now that de Vries has been ousted, Marko says it is the perfect time for the Japanese driver to be assessed in head-to-head races with proven race winner Ricciardo.
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“Daniel will now be the benchmark for our junior Yuki Tsunoda.”
“Yuki is underestimated by a lot of people.
“The Alpha Tauri is not the easiest car to drive, but Yuki has proven that it is possible to get good results with it.”