MONTREAL, Canada -- Red Bull boss Christian Horner insists his current driver line-up of Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen is secure for 2017 and beyond.
Verstappen joined the team ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix, replacing Daniil Kvyat, who was demoted to Toro Rosso. While Verstappen has signed with Red Bull long-term, there has been speculation that Ricciardo's contract will expire at the end of this year, freeing him up for a move to Ferrari.
"[That's] wrong," Horner told the official F1 website. "It [his contract] does not come to an end this season."
Asked if Red Bull will retain the same line up for 2017, Horner added: "Yes. But not just 2017!"
Horner also gave more insight into the decision to swap Kvyat with Verstappen, saying the Russian was struggling to cope with the pressure of being a Red Bull driver.
"We have an awful lot of information about the drivers in the car and in the simulator -- and it was clear for us that Daniil was struggling compared to his teammate with certain aspects of the car. So it was a combination of that and more and more pressure building on it.
"It was clear that the right thing to do was to remove him from that pressure and put him back to an environment he was familiar with. If Red Bull didn't rate Daniil an outstanding talent, the relationship would have finished then and there."