Exactly 23 days ago, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner branded Sergio Perez’s performances “unsustainable”, following his point-less finish in the British Grand Prix.
Perez’s results in the two races since then were better, though only slightly. Yet following widespread speculation the team would make a change during the summer break, yesterday Red Bull let it be known that Perez is going nowhere for the time being.Has Perez received too little credit for his response to Horner’s Silverstone warning? Or has something else changed in Red Bull’s calculations which have made what was an “unsustainable” situation suddenly sustainable – or at least tolerable?
Perez’s performance
Horner’s criticism of Perez’s performances followed a dismal five-race run for Red Bull’s second driver. He dropped out in Q1 in Monaco, then was eliminated from the race in a first-lap crash. He also failed to reach Q2 in Canada, then crashed out by himself in the race.
From five rounds Perez scored just 11 points (one coming his way in the Austria sprint race). Next to that, 13 points from the last two rounds is a modest improvement, though his contribution to Red Bull’s total is dwarfed by that of his team mate Max Verstappen.
Still, what Horner described as “unsustainable” at Silverstone was not Perez’s low-scoring but no-scoring. “He knows it’s unsustainable to not be scoring points,” said Horner.
“We have to be scoring points with that car and he knows that. He knows his role and his target.” With this modest uplift, has Perez started to hit that target?
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Over the last two races, Perez qualified poorly again in Hungary but salvaged seventh in the race. Although he sank from second to seventh at Spa (eighth before George Russell’s disqualification), he also provided a useful benefit by aiding Verstappen’s efforts to out-score Norris, his closest rival in the drivers’ championship.
In the last two races Perez gave Red Bull confidence they could rely on him to do the minimum – top up Verstappen’s big points scores by finishing within range of their closest rivals. That still might not be enough to deliver the constructors’ title – but that’s a question of priorities.
Red Bull’s priorities
Have Red Bull decided the competition is so strong this year that they can’t realistically expect to win both titles, and have therefore opted for the one which brings the most recognition and prestige – the drivers’ championship?
McLaren aren’t the only rival Red Bull need to worry about. Mercedes have out-scored them in six of the last seven events. But with 10 rounds to go and 485 points available, Mercedes face a huge task to close down their deficit to Red Bull, which stands at 142 points (Russell’s disqualification cost them 22).
Red Bull aren’t necessarily sacrificing the constructors’ title fight, but they appear to be prioritising the one they have a better chance in. No driver has made consistent inroads into Verstappen’s lead the way McLaren and Mercedes are doing to Red Bull in the teams’ championship.
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The last two races have given Red Bull hope that Perez can be relied on to stay within range of the competition, pick up at least four points per race and play the ‘Mexican Minister of Defence’ role – tellingly, the title they introduced him under at their launch event this year.
Verstappen has also voiced his support for his team mate, the importance of which should not be underestimated – as was the case when he publicly backed Helmut Marko earlier this year. Stability at the team undoubtedly suits his goal, but there’s another reason why Red Bull might be hesitant to replace Perez.
Absence of alternatives
Perez might have been in more trouble if Red Bull had an alternative candidate to replace him with, one they could be sure would represent enough of an improvement to be worth the aggravation of changing drivers.
Ricciardo, still trying to get his career back on track after leaving Red Bull six years ago, has shown only rare flashes of his old form, in Mexico last year and the Miami sprint race this year. Had he or Tsunoda consistently performed at this level, Perez would surely be gone.
Liam Lawson gave a good account of himself during his brief spell at RB last year too, but Red Bull will surely want to see more from him before committing to promoting him.
The absence of an obviously superior alternative is another factor against replacing Perez. On top of that, there is the not-too-small matter of pride: Red Bull re-signed Perez just two months ago, and ousting him now would reflect incredibly badly on that previous decision.
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The X-factor
Whoever Red Bull have placed alongside Verstappen since Ricciardo left at the end of 2018, they have consistently failed to extract as much from their chassis as he can. This was true of Pierre Gasly in 2019, Alexander Albon in 2019-20 and Perez since then.
As Red Bull’s rivals have got closer this year, Perez has therefore inevitably found himself in the seventh-to-eighth-place zone on his best days. But do Red Bull expect better days ahead in the second half of the season?
Only Red Bull know what lies in store in their development programme. They’ve seen the likes of Ferrari get close to them, only to make a wrong step and fall back.
While Verstappen’s results haven’t been as strong in the last few races, there have been mitigating factors: power unit penalty, clashes with Hamilton and Norris. On several occasions he’s been hundredths of a second or less away from another of the pole positions he claimed regularly early in the season, which were almost invariably preludes to victory.
Red Bull’s expectations of what they can still extract from their RB20, now in its distinct ‘low downforce’ and ‘high downforce’ guises, may be emboldening them to stick with a driver pairing which may not be the best in the field, but is one they aren’t convinced they can significantly improve on the middle of the season.
But having dallied with the idea of replacing Perez and committed to him, if they fail to win the constructors’ championship, this will also certainly be looked back on as the decision which sealed their fate.
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Moi
30th July 2024, 8:40
Well… a simple process of elimination I’d say. It’s not as if tey have a lot of good options.
Lawson – a rookie, and cannot afford to have more repair costs (Perez already used up the crashbudget, masterstroke!)
Yuki – he’s a Honda-plant
Sainz – too much hassle with Sr, one nasty parent in the team is more than enough
Magnussen – I don’t think I need to explain this one
Sargeant – nor this one
Ricciardo – actually an option to be fair, but his performance has not exactly made him the no-brainer it should have been. If Perez has done the bare minimum, so has Ricciardo
Imre (@f1mre)
30th July 2024, 9:16
So Ricciardo is an option but Tsunoda is not. By what measures? Wider grin?
Moi
30th July 2024, 11:35
Yuki is a Honda driver, and RB has stopped its partnership with them. If that had continued, I’m guessing Yuki would have had the seat.
Coventry Climax
31st July 2024, 12:49
Correction: Honda stopped that partnership, not RBR.
Only after RBR found a new partner, Honda decided to not go after all.
I think RBR themselves would have been more than happy to continue with Honda.
pcxmac (@pcxmac)
2nd August 2024, 5:03
you can’t be too offensive when you work with Japanese guys, and Red Bull + Max dont strike me as being to politically correct, so I could see Honda pulling out, especially if RBR were making their own product better despite Honda’s best efforts.
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
1st August 2024, 18:16
@f1mre Riccardo won’t be at Aston Martin in 2026. Depending on Honda’s choices, Yuki Tsunoda might be.
notagrumpyfan
30th July 2024, 9:56
It’s a two step process; this year and the future.
– this year promote either Yuki (my preference) or Ricciardo. They cannot do any worse than Perez, and it allows them to test Lawson in the RB.
– next year get a fast smart driver with 10 years of experience in various major teams.
MichaelN
30th July 2024, 10:12
The Sainz argument isn’t really an argument against Sainz but Horner.
Football coaches manage 20+ people, Horner can’t manage two?
Avro Anson (@avroanson)
30th July 2024, 10:43
A team principal manages many more people than just the drivers – hundreds in fact. That is a poor analogy.
Moi
30th July 2024, 12:07
This. In football, the coach just manages the team while there is usually a technical director (and his staff) for all the other football-related issues, as well as a general manager for the business-side of things.
It varies a bit per team, but in F1 a team principal combines those jobs to some degree. Add to that when a team is also an engine supplier, that whole side of things comes on top of all the other stuff.
So no, I wouldn’t compare a football coach with an F1 team principal.
MichaelN
30th July 2024, 17:13
No team principal manages more than a dozen people, that’s what the department chiefs are for. Horner might not be the best example here given his ‘interests’, but the other team principals don’t get involved with the business of every employee of the organization. Crucially the drivers are their direct responsibility because in many cases, they are more like contractors than employees. A few very special designers are also in this category.
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
1st August 2024, 18:24
MichaelN, team principals manage the entire team, which these days is around 1000 people (give or take a couple of hundred). They may be able to delegate day-to-day matters to a handful of people (contracters may end up under any of those delegates or none of them, and technically even drivers are supposed to go to the sporting director or equivalent before they go to the boss), but anything sufficiently unusual will end up on the team principal’s plate, no matter where in the company the issue originated. It’s the same at every company – and F1 is unusually good at creating complicated “sufficiently unusual” situations.
Rom
30th July 2024, 10:50
I’d argue a single drivers ego is bigger than an entire football.
20+ People football teams are aimed towards a large group of people working together to win games/titles and without individual glory apart from some player awards which are more opinion based by pundits, journalists.
No matter how much team bosses want it, drivers will always go for their own success more whenever a win or more is at stake. Remember that McLaren had to beg Norris in Hungary to let Piastri pass and Norris made it way too obvious he didn’t want it.
Mercedes letting their guys race in Belgium despite a rapidly approaching Piastri when the smarter call to secure a win for the team, would’ve been to let Hamilton pass and use Russell as a roadblock while Hamilton makes a bigger gap.
MichaelN
30th July 2024, 17:18
Sounds like a great team! Unfortunately, there’s often plenty of behind-the-scenes jockeying for positions, playtime, influence, etc. The idea that they’re all there for the greater good is nice, and might well be the case at times, but it’s far from universal.
And in any case, F1 drivers are just two 20-somethings. There are plenty of examples of teams managing this properly, even champions, so it can be done. Maybe not by Horner, though.
JV
31st July 2024, 11:36
Did you miss the part where Mercedes still got the 1-2 without letting Hamilton past Russel?
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
1st August 2024, 18:25
They didn’t. Although failing to get it was pretty much baked in by that point ;)
Nick T.
30th July 2024, 14:18
They might be just saying this to tamp down discussion until they make a change after the Imola test by LL and DR
If not, there is a big issue with the idea that they don’t have great options, which are:
A. Even if Checo’s replacement was as bad it would still solve many issues: if it was DR, it gets Lawson solving that issue. And they get a final answer if Daniel is worth keeping. And if he doesn’t work out, that frees up room for them to promote someone form RB for a single season, which frees up room for their best prospect: Hadjar. The driver who leads F2. If they’re that against giving Yuki a chance, they can sign Bottas for a single season or even Sainz if you believe the rumor he has a break clause in the event RBR or Mercedes offer him a seat.
B. I believe every driver on the grid, besides maybe Zhou, could do a better job. You can’t do worse can than failing to get out of Q1 half the time and crashing half the time.
C. Ricciardo likes the same sharp front end as Mad is the only RBR teammate to actually beat Max while every other has been driven to crisis…That difference alone should merit another shot under the circumstances.
As for this season, while not spectacular, DR been solid at worst and has had a few a great peaks like his 4th in Miami and qualifying 4th in Canada and has been on a sustained upswing and been ahead of Yuki in about 4 of the last 5 races. And Yuki has been great this season. So, if not Daniel, then give Yuki a shot.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
30th July 2024, 18:31
Exactly, when a driver is doing that badly, it gets to a point where you have nothing to lose by trying someone else. This year even sargeant isn’t necessarily worse, as shown by the driver ranking articles, when factoring in the car they had.
Nick T.
2nd August 2024, 11:22
It must get exhausting to answer endless questions about Checo. I bet part of Sergio wants to be out of his misery.
Nick T.
2nd August 2024, 11:22
put out*
Imre (@f1mre)
30th July 2024, 9:14
Money.
rsp123 (@rsp123)
30th July 2024, 9:50
Quite. While Perez works for Red Bull he is subject to certain confidentiality requirements that if breached, could be very costly.
HAL
30th July 2024, 11:42
I didn’t want to believe that argument, because IMO RB has plenty of sponsors / money and should logically favour performance. But I’m starting to wonder if my reasoning is correct, because I rally cannot phantom how Sergio is still there…
It’s the second year in a row that he is massively struggling. Yes, in both case, he started strongly for a limited period of time and yes, from time to time he pulls off a good race or a good qualy. But overall, he is massively struggling… Looks to me it can’t be worse, so why not try something different ? If you have a 1, what’s the risk of rolling the dice again ?
With this decision, chances are super high they will be in the exact same situation at the end of year: Perez is struggling, they don’t know if DR can find is previous form, they don’t know if Lawson can cut it, if Adjar can cut it, they don’t want Tsunoda… Any change would at least bring new data to support decision…
Very uninspiring.
Unless in fact, the decision is not that cut clear. Afterall, there was no formal communication, and saying that Sergio remains an RB driver does not say in which car he will drive.
Nick T.
30th July 2024, 14:23
Yup, Max could take off the rest of the season and Checo wouldn’t have a prayer of catching him in the points.
Ian Stephens
31st July 2024, 12:09
I seem to remember that Sergio Perez brought a lot of sponsorship when he came to F1. He is still well-sponsored now and Ralph Schumacher is suggesting that RB need Sergio to subsidise Max’s enormous salary.
Patrick (@anunaki)
30th July 2024, 9:31
The car just isn’t that good so they probably think the other options will not perform much better. And they expect money is also complicating the issue.
Patrick (@anunaki)
30th July 2024, 9:31
I expect
Doh
30th July 2024, 12:07
Would have been nice to see Carlos on the second car
Nick T.
30th July 2024, 14:24
So, you think they want to hide that fact from Max by not putting in another driver to prove it?
Patrick (@anunaki)
30th July 2024, 21:46
Max already knows. He’s pretty vocal about it since Spain already.
Nick T.
31st July 2024, 3:22
Then there’s nothing to lose. But clearly it’s not that bad because even as amazing as Max is, if his car was basically no better than Aston Martin or Ferrari on weekends like Silverstone, he wouldn’t be fighting for poles and wins. So, So Red Bull can still do a lot better even with just an above average driver. Checo, at his peak, was a poor qualifier. Almost every standout race he ever had was on a contra strategy, but those kinds of strategies are no longer possible w/the current era of tires and cars.
Unreal6774
30th July 2024, 9:42
I came to believe that they either don’t think Ricciardo will bring better results or there are other, non-sport factors, that make RB want to keep Perez. In any case, I’m glad that Max is fighting alone at the top. That makes things more interesting.
An Sionnach
30th July 2024, 9:45
They may know the true performance of the car. Seventh – eighth night be about it for now. Max looking ordinary at Spa in spite of a peerless qualifying performance is an ominous sign for the car’s pace. Perez is the lesser of the drivers in the top teams, too, even on a good day.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
30th July 2024, 18:46
Yes, I’m not a fan of the decision to keep perez based on his performances, but in spa it was where you’d expect a number 2 driver to be since verstappen showed red bull was 3rd best.
JackFlash67
31st July 2024, 8:59
Max started the race in grid slot 11. He aced the Qualifying in the Red Bull, but took the engine ICE penalty 10-pos grid loss at probably the best Track to take it (passing opportunity-wise).
He clawed up through 6 positions to fifth in the race. Given the natural mid-pack field spread after the first stint, that also included around 20 seconds of time that Perez did not have to deal with starting P2 on grid. And yet… he still managed make Perez look like Mr. Magoo.
So while Red Bull may bemoan their clear loss of ‘clear fastest’ mantle, they’re not exactly a Model-T Ford either. Cream rises to the top (nay Frittes Mayo), whereas Fajitas sauce sinks apparently.
Äss
30th July 2024, 9:58
Nothing
Patrick (@paeschli)
31st July 2024, 12:46
Maybe this changed
Leo B
30th July 2024, 10:18
The whole Perez situation is a complete mystery. Why does Horner stick with him?
To outsiders it is numbing that Sainz is not in that seat instead.
hunocsi (@hunocsi)
30th July 2024, 10:55
We know there are usually release clauses in driver contracts, what if there was a clause in his contract that if he is 8th or lower in the championship by the summer break, he could be released, but since Russell was DSQ’d, he moved back to 7th and was saved? I’m not saying this as something conspiratorial about the DSQ, I just noticed after the race that he slipped back to 8th in the standings, neither Horner nor Marko were saying positive things about Perez’s after the race, then Russell gets DSQ’d and Perez moves back to 7th, and the next day Horner confirms that he is safe.
Patrick (@paeschli)
30th July 2024, 11:51
I read somewhere the release clause was not more than 100 points behind Verstappen in the standings and not more than 5 places behind him in the standings. Both release clauses are met.
Must be other factors at play here (loss of the Carlos Slim sponsoring, Ricciardo not performing significantly better in the simulator, Tsunoda a liability with his hot temper…)
Nick T.
30th July 2024, 14:22
He’s broken the clause by a lot. Not just 100 points behind, but nearly 150. That means Max could DNF straight and Checo would need 7 straight wins to even up the tally. Embarrassing.
If he hadn’t broken his clause, there wouldn’t have been all this discussion
sumedh
30th July 2024, 10:57
This is embarrassing. It is very clear to anyone watching that both Tsunoda and Ricciardo will be able to do better than Perez. I am sure a team of Red Bull’s size can handle the commercial implications of rejecting Carlos Slim’s money.
But the problem is the people.
Max doesn’t care about the constructors’ championship. In fact, he will not mind Red Bull losing it, that means additional wind tunnel time for next year. Horner and Marko are probably still having their politics going on about who to put there and Checo is nothing but a pawn in that.
Moi
30th July 2024, 12:19
Difference between 1st and 2nd in WCC was around 10 million last year? Don’t know how much sponsor money Perez brings in, but I read a figure of 33 million somewhere. That is a lot of money even for RB.
Combine that with not being 100% sure if Ricciardo or Tsunoda will do that much better, and the choice is understandable if still disappointing.
Also, I’m pretty sure Max as well as everybody else at RB has a significant bonus depending on WCC position (not only because of prize money but also the marketing value, it is why RB got into F1 in the first place), hard to imagine they would deliberately shoot themselves in the foot like that.
I think the choice is more a question of stick with the devil you know – call it conservative or even cowardly, it is still rational.
Sumedh
30th July 2024, 13:06
33 million seems exaggerated. What are the sponsor logos linked to this 33 million on the red bull then? For reference, Bybit pays Red Bull 40 million and gets the full rear wing. Surely, there should be some big Carlos slim related logos in the car.
And even if we assume that Checo brings in that much money, how are we sure that the money goes away without Checo? Santander continued its Ferrari deal even after Alonso left them (although they had joined Ferrari with Alonso). It is every bit beneficial for Carlos Slim’s companies to continue sponsoring a leading Formula 1 team who is likely to win WDC.
Even if we assume Carlos Slim goes away, surely Red Bull can attract new sponsors and make up for bulk of the shortfall.
Lastly, with the budget cap, teams don’t need so much money now (which is also a reason for teams’ worth increasing).
The financial arguments simply don’t stack up for Checo. This is purely people politics at play which is keeping Checo in the seat.
Invisiblekid (@invisiblekid)
30th July 2024, 20:57
I like this.
Carlos Slim is no different than any other sponsor. He wants eyes on his car and presumably a car doing well. He is sponsoring success, not driver crashing or falling back quicker than an egg and spoon race team who have stepped on their egg.
All I can think is Christian got a visit from Hector Salamanca and The Twins from Breaking Bad.
Coventry Climax
31st July 2024, 13:03
Those twins now reportedly go by the names of Stefano Domenicali and Liberty Media.
Ole Brummer (@andrewwj)
30th July 2024, 12:18
The calculation that what is now a likely loss of the WCC will be more than offset by the sponsorship bucks PER guarantees, methinks. Hard to make the case that PER is their best available option in terms of driving ability, but he dwarfs all others where sponsorship cash is concerned.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
30th July 2024, 19:04
Red bull were spending 330 mil or something before the budget cap, now just 140 mil or whatever the cap is and they can’t afford to lose perez’s sponsorship? What do they spend the around 200 mil they’re saving on?
Mayrton
31st July 2024, 9:21
I think it is about RedBull organisational revenue, not just the race team which is just one of many instruments the corporation deploys. Checo helps sell their product & merchandise in South America and RedBull don’t care a single moment about the WCC, since it doesn’t sell them a single soda can more. And the bonus is you do not have to manage a Rosberg Hamilton situation in the racing team.
Ronny
30th July 2024, 12:36
I think they were waiting him to drop to P8 in the standings. The Disqualification of Russell delayed his sacking.
David
30th July 2024, 12:49
I wonder if it is simply down to next year’s car development and we are all reading too much into it?
RB lost wind tunnel time to develop this year’s car partly due to their exceeding the cap penalty (penalty now finished I think?) but also of course continue to do so because they continue to lead the WCC. This must be hurting. Is it possible that RB (acting on Max’s preferences) want to get as much wind tunnel time as possible whilst he still wins WDC means that they value the extra wind tunnel time more than the $10m they lose for finishing 2nd rather than 1st? The money can be replaced by Slim/ other Mexican sponsors after all… if they drop Perez they lose £30m to potentially gain £10m in prize money and potentially no windtunnel increase if they stay 1st.
That said I suspect they aren’t convinced any of the others will do that much better anyhow in a car which even Max is admitting to struggling with now balance wise.
Coventry Climax
31st July 2024, 13:09
Don’t know if this is true, but if it is, is just goes to show what a horrid, degenerated set of rules the FiA have ended up with under the name of the ‘equal playing field’.
F1 maybe financially strong, but that’s about all it’s strong at, these days.
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
1st August 2024, 18:33
The wind tunnel time was lost in 2023. The penalty is more than over.
Phil Norman (@phil-f1-21)
30th July 2024, 13:44
I think the three key factors must be money (i.e. not losing it), not having a ready made, better replacement for Sergio and not wanting to upset Max. They or he clearly do not want to have a driver next to him who might provide more of a challenge. On paper Sainz as no. 2 for next season would have been ideal but this is not what they want.
Jim from US (@jimfromus)
30th July 2024, 14:17
Is it just vanity? How’s it going to look when you sack a driver you just gave an extension to when you didn’t have to do that extension at that time?
David BR (@david-br)
30th July 2024, 14:36
If it’s inexplicable in racing terms, it’s probably money.
Ben
30th July 2024, 14:36
1. To keep the Verstappen’s happy and ensure doesn’t leave.
2. Money
Pete
30th July 2024, 19:32
I’m not convinced… I think Max believes he can beat anyone and from what we’ve seen recently, he’s got Marko’s back over Christians. Marko seems to be the one that wants to boot Checo out whilst Horner is doing everything he can to protect him.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
30th July 2024, 14:51
The only reason why Perez is being kept in the seat is because of the unknown of changing drivers mid-season. Even if Ricc or Yuki were performing very well, it’s not a given they’d perform much better than Perez at Red Bull: it’s a different car after all.
But while stability is the name of the game for 2024, I’m really, really not sure Perez is going to be in Red Bull next year. Specially if they lose the WCC, which is increasingly likely they will.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
31st July 2024, 1:47
Yes, there’s plenty of drivers who did well enough in the midfield and then couldn’t perform well enough at a top team, in the past fisichella and frentzen were clear examples, and in recent times gasly and albon; perez curiously did well enough his first season, a “bottas job” and then was down to gasly\albon level, so unless tsunoda is given a few races at red bull we can’t know if he will be able to perform at the same level he is atm, ricciardo did well in the past at red bull, but who knows after his mclaren debable if he still has it.
Roger Ayles (@roger-ayles)
30th July 2024, 16:42
It’s amusing how Red Bull seem to have normalised the mid season driver swap over the past decade or so to the point where fans think it’s normal and acceptable.
Outside of rare exceptions teams with adequate budgets swapping drivers during a season never used to be a thing. You only used to see it further down the grid where teams desperate for money swapped out drivers more regularly as they chased funding…. That until the FIA placed limits on how many drivers teams could run in each car during a season after 1994.
Perez in underperforming yes but he has a contract and it should be respected. If you want to see teams ditch drivers all the time if they are struggling then whats the point of signing anyone to year long contracts?
David BR (@david-br)
30th July 2024, 17:27
Actually, I wonder if having two readily available drivers in their special B-team makes their decisions worse?? They (we) only really have this conversation because they’re much freer to swap mid-season. But as we saw with Gasly and Albon, that freedom to switch around maybe unnerves their drivers. Except Max obviously.
André
30th July 2024, 17:21
The last thing that Redbull wants right now is a teammate that will take points away from Max at this stage. Why risk the drivers’ title?
Esteban
30th July 2024, 22:10
You misunderstand. For Checo, or his imaginary replacement to beat Verstappen, Max would have to DNF 7 times while car no. 2 would have to win 7 times, or some impossibility like that. Car no 2 can’t take points away from Max, it can, though, take points away from Norris.
Jim from US (@jimfromus)
30th July 2024, 17:45
Unless they signed PER to keep him off the market and will release him once all of the seats are filled.
The Dolphins
30th July 2024, 18:00
How would this benefit Red Bull?
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
31st July 2024, 1:33
Mmmm, maybe they’re aware he can be good at a midfield\different team and don’t want them to gain an advantage, but seems unlikely in the context of red bull, they’re too far ahead compared to teams who might be interested in perez (as in doubt mercedes).
Honda
30th July 2024, 18:22
I am not surprised but they have not yet confirmed anything about Ricciardo and Lawson for 2025. According to rumours they have to decide about Lawson by September end so 4 more races after the break and tomorrow filming day test.
Free_B
30th July 2024, 19:33
My suggestion:
1. Demote Perez to RB. This takes the immediate pressure off him and allows him to regain his composure for what Red Bull really wants: a strong number 2 driver
2. For the remaining races (10) split them evenly between Ricciardo and Tsunda.
3. Scoring:
A. Does Perez beat both drivers in the RB: Perez goes back to Red Bull
B. Does with driver consistently score more points at Red Bull AND beat Perez at RB: that driver stays at Red Bull
C. Whichever driver performs worst at RB gets replaced by Lawson
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
31st July 2024, 1:30
Interesting idea, seems fair to me.
PaulT (@pault)
30th July 2024, 22:44
Red Bull hasn’t actually said Perez will have a seat in 2025, only that he will be racing for them after the summer break.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
31st July 2024, 1:28
Indeed, which would be an interesting development, if he’s actually getting replaced in 2025, as it would mean breaking the contract they gave him few months ago; I wonder who they would take though, maybe ricciardo.