Red Bull team boss Christian Horner says that there is no 'guarantee' that new Toro Rosso pairing Jean-Eric Vergne and Daniel Ricciardo have a future with Red Bull, but he says that he is looking forward to seeing how they perform.
Vergne and Ricciardo have both moved to the Red Bull junior Formula One team for the 2012 season, in what many see as a 'shoot-out' for an expected vacancy at Red Bull in 2013.
With current Red Bull driver Mark Webber's current contract expiring at the end of this season, and the Australian expected to retire, the two STR drivers are seen as fighting over that seat.
But while Horner has said that he is keen to see how the two drivers get on, he suggested that neither was guaranteed a drive at Red Bull.
"They are products of the Red Bull junior programme and are both Red Bull Racing drivers on loan to Toro Rosso to develop them," he told the Autosport website earlier this week.
"Time will tell. There are no guarantees. It's the best way to see how their talent evolves over the next season or so."
Both Vergne and Ricciardo enter their Toro Rosso drives with impressive CVs behind them.
Vergne finished second in the Renault World Series last year, and topped every day of November's Young Driver Test for Red Bull.
Ricciardo, meanwhile, was also a strong presence on the Renault World Series grid, and impressed Red Bull during the second half of the 2011 F1 season driving for HRT.
And Horner suggested that both drivers were "exciting" prospects for the future, saying that he was eager to see them fighting alongside each other.
"They are two of the most exciting talents on the periphery of Formula One," the Red Bull team boss grinned.
"To put them in the same environment gives us a much better visibility in terms of seeing how they progress."
He added: "They have done tremendously well in the lower formulas and in test and simulation work for Red Bull Racing and we are fully supportive of their promotion into the race seats."
The promotion of both drivers to race seats for 2012 saw both Sebastien Buemi and Jaime Alguersuari lose their drivers with the STR squad.
While Alguersuari is yet to find an alternative drive, Buemi has moved to Red Bull as reserve driver, and Horner said that the move was good for both driver and team.
"It's very positive for us," he grinned regarding the signing of the Swiss genius, "Sebastien has three years of grand prix experience, he knows the team well.
"He's technically very competent and has a lot of experience of current F1. For us, it's the best possible scenario to have Sebastien as our test and reserve driver."
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