Red Bull team principal Christian Horner’s responses over Sergio Perez’s future changed noticeably in the wake of the Qatar Grand Prix, where the team’s hopes of winning a third consecutive constructors’ championship ended.
Previously Horner was at pains to stress Red Bull’s faith in Perez’s ability to turn his dire season around. But last night his words carried unmistakeable overtones that a parting of ways is imminent.“We’re going to give him all the support that we can to the chequered flag in Abu Dhabi next weekend,” said Horner. “And what he decides to do, that will be his decision at the end of the day.”
Horner referred to the role Perez played in helping the team win the last two constructors’ championships. However such was the team’s advantage last year that Max Verstappen single-handedly scored enough points to guarantee them the title, and Perez must shoulder a significant amount of the blame for their defeat this year.
Perez has scored so poorly that while his team mate clinched the drivers’ title two races ago, Red Bull will go to the season finale unable to win the constructors’ title.
This scenario hasn’t happened since 1982, and it took some extreme circumstances for that to happen. While Keke Rosberg won the drivers’ title for Williams, the team’s second car rotated between three different drivers, and contributed just 24% of their points total. Still, that’s little worse than Perez’s 26%.
Notwithstanding the new deal Red Bull handed Perez earlier this year, motorsport consultant Helmut Marko recently said the team’s shareholders will consider Perez’s future after the season ends. They are likely to take a dim view of their failure to deliver both titles when Verstappen is 80 points ahead in the drivers’ standings.
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But if the writing is finally on the wall for Perez, Red Bull’s choice of his replacement is less obvious. Daniel Ricciardo was clearly being eyed as a potential replacement when they rehired him just under two years ago, but that didn’t work out.
That leaves three likely options on the table for Red Bull – and potential consequences for their junior team, not to mention their departing driver.
Lawson: Another quick promotion to Red Bull?
Liam Lawson chalked up his 10th grand prix start last weekend for Red Bull’s second team. He made all those starts alongside Yuki Tsunoda, and though he hasn’t blown away his more experienced team mate, he has shown promising pace given his lack of experience.
Although Lawson will only have started 11 grands prix by the end of the season, a lack of experienced hasn’t deterred Red Bull in the past. Alexander Albon was ushered into the top team after just 12 races in 2019.
Tsunoda: His chance at last?
However Red Bull have arranged to run Tsunoda in one of their cars in post-season testing. This could be his last, best chance to convince the team he deserves a seat.
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Colapinto: Outsider’s hopes fading?
Franco Colapinto made an eye-catching debut for Williams when the team lost patient with Logan Sargeant after the Dutch Gran Prix. After a calm debut at Monza he rose above the chaos in Baku to take a superb eighth – ahead of Lewis Hamilton, no less – and added another point at Austin.
As both Williams seats are occupied next year, rumours spread that Colapinto could find his way into Red Bull’s operation at some level. That speculation cooled following Colapinto’s crashes at Interlagos and Las Vegas.
RB: Which junior is next?
Isack Hadjar has given a very good account of himself in Formula 2 this year. He’s just half a point off the championship lead, despite having some lousy luck at times. He has also racked up a useful amount of F1 practice sessions appearances.
Japanese Super Formula racer Ayumu Iwasa may also be a candidate. However he didn’t have as strong a year in the series as Lawson did last year, ending the season a win-less fifth while his Red Bull predecessor took a trio of victories and only missed the title by eight points.
Perez: The end of the line?
Prior to last weekend’s race, Perez dismissed suggestions Red Bull could relegate him to RB next year. Given that, he isn’t going to find a seat on the F1 grid in 2025.
A return further down the line is not impossible, however. Cadillac’s expected arrival in 2026 will open up two more seats, and with over 280 starts to his name Perez would bring an enviable amount of experience. However tough recent years has been, he has proved himself a capable team leader in the past, notably when he took Racing Point to their sole victory in 2020.
Whatever happens, if this is to be Perez’s final F1 drive for the foreseeable future this weekend, hopefully he gets the chance to acknowledge it, unlike Ricciardo’s poorly-handled exit at the Singapore Grand Prix earlier this year.
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2024 Qatar Grand Prix
- Horner ‘believes 100%’ Verstappen did not threaten to crash into Russell
- Russell and Verstappen cast new light on clash which triggered explosive row
- Hamilton’s puncture not caused by mirror debris – Mercedes
- Another start-to-finish win shows Qatar GP could be F1’s most processional race
- “Am I dead last now?” Unheard radio from Hamilton’s disastrous Qatar GP
Ideals (@ideals)
2nd December 2024, 15:16
If only there was a proven second driver out of a job at the end of a season that’s a solid hand that won’t rock the boat with the number one driver.
But alas, have to go with a rookie since that worked so well the last few times they tried that
An Sionnach
2nd December 2024, 16:47
…who is good at qualifying? They need to swoop and sign Bottas!
An Sionnach
2nd December 2024, 16:48
He’s got impeccable references, including “best team mate” from Sir Lewis Hamilton!
stefano (@alfa145)
2nd December 2024, 16:53
quite obvious he meant Bottas
RH
2nd December 2024, 18:17
Is Bottas really that good at qualifying? It’s not necessarily a good metric to use his statistic in Merc cars given he was qualifying in an era with at most 4 competitive cars in the front.
We are in the closest ever field spread in F1 history nowadays. 3 tenths would mean P8 instead of P1 nowadays.
Red Bull should have gotten Carlos back but alas.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
2nd December 2024, 18:45
Bottas is better in quali than perez has been even in 2021, when red bull was a pretty damn good car!
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
2nd December 2024, 18:46
Agree on sainz, both more deserving of a red bull seat than perez.
An Sionnach
2nd December 2024, 23:09
Good point. He may not qualify so well with such a tight field. I expect it should be better than Pérez, though. If Red Bull struggles next year for the whole season then Max will need help from a team mate. They will need to start in the leading pack. McLaren should pick a team leader quickly if they learn from this year; Mercedes will have George, but Ferrari will have trouble unless Leclerc is way off the pace of Lewis.
Out of all the options left, Bottas should be considered. I expect Red Bull made up their minds about Tsunoda long ago, and… he almost rear-ended Max in Vegas.
I still rate Lawson as being capable of stepping up, but he could do with a full season away from whatever bedlam surrounds a championship challenge. Bottas should be happy to take the money and race for another year. I didn’t think Sainz would have been a good option. Whatever his level, he is not a number two. Bottas, Hulkenberg, Magnussen and Pérez have all shown they can do what’s needed to serve the team. Of these, those who qualify further up are the most useful. Perhaps Magnussen and Pérez have more in their armoury when it comes to frustrating those behind them.
An Sionnach
2nd December 2024, 23:11
Perhaps Magnussen could be the man, then? He’s one of the more muscular drivers, and one of the few who will fight tooth and nail for a position.
GechiChan (@gechichan)
3rd December 2024, 7:17
I don’t find Bottas a great replacement: he’s at the end of the line, there is no incredible speed in him and no drive to make it WDC anymore. He might get some points, but not significantly more than Perez.
What RedBull really needs is someone like Piastri: very fast, young, safe pair of hands with enough passion to win but also calm and collected under pressure (and under team orders).
GechiChan (@gechichan)
3rd December 2024, 7:20
…and Yuki is not that!
Illusive (@illusive)
4th December 2024, 8:49
Bottas is worse than Perez, Bottas is used to driving a stable car of a mercedes on rails, he’ll be worse than Perez in that RB.
Edvaldo
2nd December 2024, 15:21
Perez has to leave because he did more than enough to deserve to be sacked.
But these options are stopgaps, i doubt either will last there.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
2nd December 2024, 15:23
Yuki just deserves it. Even if he’s not (in RBR eyes) the ideal partner to Max, the fact of the matter is that he’s been thrown 3 team mates into battle and beat every single one of them quite convincingly.
He’s also an understandable stop-gap before someone better becomes available for 2026 while the Honda deal runs out.
GechiChan (@gechichan)
3rd December 2024, 7:25
he hasn’t beat anyone convincingly. He’s mid at best.
Todfod (@todfod)
3rd December 2024, 7:29
He didn’t beat Gasly.. who was dropped by Red Bull for not being good enough. He hasn’t looked more convincing that Lawson either.
I do agree that Tsonuda should get a chance to test the Red Bull and show them what he’s got though. His pace should be ahead of Perez’s at the very least. He’s actually a safer choice than Lawson or Colapinto at this point.
Jungle
3rd December 2024, 10:44
Bump up Yuki for next year. Fast, a bit of a wild card but a lot more experienced now than when he partnered Gasly. As long as he doesn’t take out Max when he’s running in the top order then happy days for Red Bull. Grab a lot more points than Checo.
Lawson and Colapinto are still bit green for the top seat. Let them fight it out in the junior team for another season and see who comes out on top for 26.
Moi
2nd December 2024, 15:24
And to think they probably could have gotten Sainz to sign earlier this year..
As it stands, I’m afraid Lawson will turn into another Nick de Vries and Yuki into another Albon.
stefano (@alfa145)
2nd December 2024, 16:54
pretty sure they could have a phone call and Sainz under contract in the same day if they wanted.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
2nd December 2024, 18:47
Think so too, sainz was performing very well and losing a seat at a top team, so surely he’d have been interested in going to another top team.
Todfod (@todfod)
3rd December 2024, 7:31
Sainz was served up on a silver platter to Red Bull. It was 100% the best driver signing they would have made in the last 6 seasons. Unfortunately, Max would not be happy with that… and keeping Max happy should be their top priority, as reminded by Max’s performances this season.
faulty (@faulty)
4th December 2024, 2:09
Max’s comfort is a priority for his team. Agree.
Perez is someone Max can boss around and knowing that your top dog status is beyond safe within the team must also help. Look at how he behaved with Danny Ric in good form.
Nulla Pax (@nullapax)
2nd December 2024, 15:29
To start with – What on earth is happening with Lawson’s hair in that picture?
The look on the guys face walking behind him pretty much says it all.
Anyway,
Yuki doesn’t simply deserve a try in that seat – he has earned it.
Unfortunately, Red Bull appear to hate him … or is Max scared of him perhaps?
Let’s just lose the smug looking, underperforming, joke that is Sergio Perez and get another top driver into a top team ok.
uzsjgb (@uzsjgb)
2nd December 2024, 16:55
You may have stumbled upon the truth. With Tsunoda Red Bull have a driver who is even better than Verstappen. It is obvious they won’t promote him, because that would make winning a championship much too easy.
anon
2nd December 2024, 17:30
@nullapax Marko was telling the press about a week ago that he isn’t keen on promoting Tsunoda to Red Bull because he thinks Tsunoda is too inconsistent and error prone in his performances. As one example, Marko cited Tsunoda’s crash during qualifying in the Mexican GP – which cost the team quite a bit financially, and also cost Lawson a chance to possibly get into Q3 – as the sort of mistake that he was not happy about.
Nulla Pax (@nullapax)
2nd December 2024, 17:44
If Marko told me that day is light and night is dark, I wouldn’t trust him to be telling the truth.
anon
3rd December 2024, 14:48
You might feel he is not trustworthy, but that is the position he has been sticking to (and he has been saying that for the past few years, so he’s been very consistent in that respect).
To be fair, Tsunoda himself gave the Japanese press an interview at the start of this year where he criticised some areas of his performance in previous seasons. He then said he wanted to focus on his consistency and work harder on his training this season, so even Tsunoda seems to think he needed to improve on those areas.
Coventry Climax
2nd December 2024, 18:00
That hair was the first thing I noticed as well.
I distinctly remember popular little (no more than 5cm / 2inch) dolls with green hair standing straight up. Tiki dolls or any such name? They may have come with the groceries, don’t really remember. Anyway, that’s what he reminds me of.
Tried searching for them, but closest I could find -and unfortunately not green- is this.
SteveP
2nd December 2024, 19:32
Is that the trolls that my young sister collected, or something where I don’t have to dig into 50-year-old memories?
Ah, your piccie matches the memory and a quick search yields the long history of that family of toys: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troll_doll “Dam dolls”
Coventry Climax
3rd December 2024, 10:59
Good find, SteveP!
Turns out they apparently came in all colors, not just the green I remember.
SteveP
3rd December 2024, 19:55
When I was in school they called it “library skills” college “research skills” these days apparently “google-fu”
All the senior tech staff at work seem to be the same, find stuff and sort the wheat from the chaff.
Ivan B (@njoydesign)
2nd December 2024, 22:02
i think dragon ball reference would fit better – please image search “goku super saiyan” to see what i mean
@denn (@denn)
3rd December 2024, 15:44
Liam’s trying out his Guile cosplay with that hair!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guile_(Street_Fighter)
Leo B
2nd December 2024, 15:31
Horner: ‘Perez is a brilliant driver and a great guy.’
???
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
2nd December 2024, 16:34
That’s the beginning of a sentence that always continues with “but…”
Todfod (@todfod)
3rd December 2024, 7:32
but he also doesn’t know that green means go
Craig
2nd December 2024, 15:44
There’s very definitely a behind the scenes reason for Perez staying and not being able to perform as well as he can (he is a race winner, after all), I think we keep asking the wrong question when it comes to articles like this. Perhaps they don’t want to lose his ability to develop a car seeing as they very successfully used him to test a setup that turned the Red Bull from an also ran in the sprint to by far best car in the race at Qatar.
uzsjgb (@uzsjgb)
2nd December 2024, 17:01
I love this. much better than your last attempt at humor. Perez knows better what sort of car Verstappen needs, than Verstappen himself and develops the car in this manner, making it more and more undriveable for himself in the process.
Craig
2nd December 2024, 18:20
Could you point to the exact part of my comment where I even implied that? Or would you trust a relative rookie to your team with such a task?
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
2nd December 2024, 18:51
Let’s see: perez comes to red bull and the team is suddenly a championship contending car; the year after the clear best car, the year after the most dominant team in a while, the year after a championship contending car, a pretty good record for perez’s tenure at the team.
If red bull becomes a joke in 2025, this theory will get some merit, obviously along with newey leaving.
SPArtacus
3rd December 2024, 4:17
I wouldn’t expect u of all people, Esploratore, to entertain such a screwy theory. Ignoring the fact that drivers have never been less critical to aero and chassis development, there’s almost no real world testing anymore. And, when it comes to development through driver input, even the simulator plays a bigger role (it’d be interesting to know the % split among MV, SP + sim and/or RB drivers when it comes to time in the sim).
The meat & potatoes:
For 16 straight years, RBR has had the best or next best chassis on the grid. A trending starting in 2009, just one year after RBR produced its first fully Newey package. Seems the key continues to be extremely obvious.
Todfod (@todfod)
3rd December 2024, 7:33
Its definitely not his ability as a driver or a development driver. Maybe his submissive attitude and sponsorship money.
Craig
3rd December 2024, 11:02
I’m not convinced by the sponsorship money idea as it’s not like Red Bull is strapped for cash or would have difficulty drumming up alternative sponsorship.
Matt (@hollidog)
2nd December 2024, 15:49
Perez will race for Red Bull next year. We’ve been talking about this for 3 years.
SPArtacus
3rd December 2024, 4:19
I’ll put $ on it with you that he won’t. There are services that can act as the house for us.
Todfod (@todfod)
3rd December 2024, 7:39
From 2010 to 2013 I always wondered by Massa was retained by Ferrari. Despite Massa’s confidence that he has a contract for next year, he was eventually dumped after 4 lack lustre seasons. Massa wasn’t even terrible.. he was just just slightly off Alonso’s pace on a consistent basis.
Perez also completed 4 seasons with Red Bull. His 2021 season wasn’t terrible.. but from the 2nd half of 2022 to the end of 2024, he’s been one of the worst drivers to ever drive a championship winning car. I don’t see Red Bull retaining a driver that’s not even good enough to drive for their B team. His sponsorship money was a nice bonus to the team, but finishing in #3 in the WCC along with multiple crashes has definitely taken away from that bonus. He’s a liability currently and it would be foolish of Marko-Horner to out him in that seat for next year and lose another WCC.
SPArtacus
3rd December 2024, 19:55
You said it. Because Massa was never as hopeless as Perez has been and Raikkonen did even worse next to Alonso than Massa did when he in for 2014. It’s a shame Mattiaci was there for 2014 he FA would’ve still been there when the car came good the very next season.
Todfod (@todfod)
4th December 2024, 5:08
They would have broken their 10 year losing streak in 2018 If Alonso was driving instead of Vettel, but honestly, Alonso seemed done with the team by the end of 2013.
oweng (@oweng)
2nd December 2024, 16:07
Have a shootout. 8 races for Tusonda, 8 races for Lawson. Best performer gets a contract for the final 8 races and 2026.
Nulla Pax (@nullapax)
2nd December 2024, 16:22
Can’t do that.
That would make some of the on track action interesting, and that is not what Liberty want.
People who sit watching the races aren’t buying more stuff!
SPArtacus
3rd December 2024, 4:37
I partially agree. I’d do it like this:
Put Yuki in as he’s far more experienced & RBR don’t want him long term/lose nothing if it breaks him + because LL’s career will be over if he’s put next to Max w/only half-a-season’s experience.
If Yuki fails, put whoever’s doing best at RB (LL or Yuki’s replacement, which could be Franco) OR replace him Bottas or KMag.
Keith Campbell (@keithedin)
3rd December 2024, 9:14
@oweng I don’t think alternating the Redbull seat is a good way to do a back to back comparison between drivers. Imagine if this year you had one driver in the car for the first 8 races, when the car was either dominant or at worst a narrow second best, to the next 8 races, where it was significantly less competitive, as illustrated by Perez’s own results. The second driver wouldn’t have a hope of achieving the same results, because it would almost be like driving a different car. The better way to do a head to head comparison is having both drivers drive the same car in the same races, just as they’re doing at the junior team.
Sarah (@elyndys19)
2nd December 2024, 16:19
I keep wondering why Red Bull were so reluctant to even consider taking Sainz back when he lost his seat at Ferrari. Even at the time it looked like the ideal solution for both them and him, and even more so now. I’ve never heard an explanation for why they didn’t want to go that route and why they were so committed to Perez in the face of all the evidence.
Jamie Franklin
2nd December 2024, 16:40
Martin Brundle said that Carlos Sainz Snr and Jos were not the best of friends. Also he would certainly push Verstappen harder than he or the team needs in reality as they have one of the greats in their no1 car, so need more of a Barrichello/Bottas/Rosberg type.
Doh
2nd December 2024, 16:41
Me neither, but it’s what I wanted to see. They probably didn’t want a mercedes Nico Lewis scenario and all the stress that comes with it
Edvaldo
2nd December 2024, 16:49
Just remember Raikkonen was considered for Mark Webber’s seat all the time back in the Vettel era and it never happened.
That’s just not how they operate.
uzsjgb (@uzsjgb)
2nd December 2024, 17:04
What makes you think Red Bull didn’t consider taking Sainz? And what makes you think Sainz would want to be the new Perez? It’s a career ending move to sign as a number 2 driver, there is no coming back from that.
MichaelN
2nd December 2024, 17:26
Sainz has had a pretty decent run as Ferrari’s number 2 driver. I get that these guys are often champions in their own right in lower categories, but not everyone can be champion in F1. It’s good to be realistic about this. Being a race winner at Ferrari vs. a “number 1” driver for a team 8th in the standings is an easy choice.
Edvaldo
2nd December 2024, 17:52
uzsjgb
lol Perez had just won his first race in 10 years when he signed with Red Bull, now he seems to be leaving after a lackluster stint, yet, his numbers are much better, he won Monaco and other 4 races, and scored dozens of podiums.
Do you really think that is a career killer? Guys like Hulkenberg and Magnussen would love to have a career killer like that.
Keith Campbell (@keithedin)
2nd December 2024, 17:40
@elyndys19 All rumours ofc, but what I had heard was that Verstappen senior and Sainz senior did not get on – each arguing for better or ‘fairer’ treatment for their son, which led to a lot of friction in the junior team while they were teammates. I’m sure some of that spilled over into Max and Carlos’ relationship too. Basically, Redbull knew that Sainz wouldn’t be a subservient number 2 to Max and that would be potentially disruptive to the team. They seem to prefer the situation where they only have one competitive driver to avoid the intra-team drama.
SPArtacus
3rd December 2024, 4:38
That’s not a rumor. The only thing that’s a rumor is that the history between the dads is what led to RBR passing over Sainz.
Greg
2nd December 2024, 21:22
According to people “with information but who cannot be identified because they are not authorized to comment”, the Verstappens have veto power over who goes to the team and they do not want Sainz.
Jere (@jerejj)
2nd December 2024, 16:31
Tsunoda definitely deserves a chance in the main team, even if it were only for a single season at max, given the impending Honda supply end, but better than nothing, & if he fails, Red Bull can simply swap around him & Lawson during the season.
Iwasa’s chances are rather non-existent, but if either current VCARB driver were promoted to the main team, Hadjar would indeed get a chance in all likelihood.
As for Checo’s future, Cadillac is realistically his only chance, although the same is equally true for some other drivers who’ll end up without a drive for next season, including Ricciardo.
bull mello (@bullmello)
2nd December 2024, 16:54
Tsunoda with a single season makes sense. See what he can do for a season. Honda should like this for one season too.
Or, maybe Bottas. He is a good driver. He got along with a F1 world champion. Won races. He knows how to score points. Dependable. Bottas needs an F1 job for next season too.
SPArtacus
3rd December 2024, 4:48
He should get a shot, but it’s less deserves and more the simple fact he is their best available option.That and they can always go the more dull route of Bottas at anytime if Yuki struggles.
There’s little to lose since RBR wasn’t planning on keeping Yuki long term. It’s why I think it’ll end up Yuki & not Liam as most media + fans expect.
Jamie Franklin
2nd December 2024, 16:34
I reckon Lawson to Red Bull and Hadjar to RB. Lawson is definitely comparing favourably to Tsunoda given their relative experience. Its obviously a year too early for Lawson, but they need someone who can drive a Verstappen developed Red Bull, and Perez has shown he cant handle the car the way Verstappen likes it. Hadjar and Tsunoda would be a sparky duo, lots of radio outbursts!! Lindblad will be waiting in the wings, he should be pretty handy at Campos in 2025.
GT Racer (@gt-racer)
2nd December 2024, 16:42
In the days where testing was allowed Red Bull would have had a 2-3 day end of season test to have a shoot-out between all drivers in consideration.
Force India for example did this at the end of 2008 where they had Giancarlo Fisichella, Ralf Schumacher & Christian Klien running in the December Jerez test.
You just can’t really do that now as the end of season test is structured in such a way that it’s not really feasible to be properly able to evaluate multiple drivers. This is why you don’t see the sort of shoot out’s that used to be relatively common, especially a bit further down the grid.
Deep Sky
2nd December 2024, 17:02
With the cost cap in place, I’m surprised why no one is pushing for increased testing during the year start/end/mid.
It’s too costly to have rookies crash and learn during races, but they can afford now to earn mileage in tests. Or evaluate different options.
SPArtacus
3rd December 2024, 4:54
I believe they can do that using a 2022 chassis (that for 2021) at anytime + the 2023 car after the season is over, but I agree the amount of restrictions on testing is ridiculous. It should be up to teams how much they’re willing to spend on track tests, shootouts, etc.
SteveP
3rd December 2024, 20:02
TPC – but there are limits on that
Jim from US (@jimfromus)
2nd December 2024, 17:24
PER has accepted his role as a 2nd driver whose primary objective is to support the 1st driver. Not many drivers in F1 want to do that. BOT is the only other driver that I know that would accept this role. Every other driver wants to compete every race.
SPArtacus
3rd December 2024, 4:57
Please. There are many drivers on the grid who would take that seat in a second. Most of the grid in fact. And Perez’s main job isn’t supporting Max, but rather that if he actually was good enough to challenge him, they wouldn’t let him take points away from him in a close title fight.
SteveP
3rd December 2024, 20:05
If anyone happened to challenge Max, the proverbial teddy would be orbital at the very least.
Dane
2nd December 2024, 17:55
Sainz seems like such an obvious choice at Red Bull but he seems to be overlooked for more unproven drivers. He’s 50% of the reason Ferrari might still be Constructors Champions in a week. Having a Dad who disagrees with Jos seems like a very weak argument for passing him up.
Riccard
2nd December 2024, 18:08
If Tsunoda doesn’t get the seat then he is probably lost to RB as a motivated driver.
He’s earned it more than anyone else, and Red Bull would learn a lot from measuring Verstappen against a consistent teammate. I say do it
Then Lawson + rookie beneath him… following RB trials
Really should have taken Sainz…
Craig
2nd December 2024, 18:22
He wouldn’t be the first motivated driver they lose and without major changes to the red bull junior driver program likely won’t be the last.
SPArtacus
3rd December 2024, 5:02
It also doesn’t make any sense to put Lawson in over Yuki. Besides being very inexperienced, he hasn’t even show more potential than Yuki and is down about 7-1 or 6-2 in quali head-to-head. Beyond that, putting Lawson in so early against Max just guarantees his career ends after one or two seasons. He will snap Liam’s confidence.
SPArtacus
3rd December 2024, 5:05
ps – I’m actually very confident Yuki will end up in the RBR. Picking Lawson, IMO, would actually show RBR doesn’t value/rate LL if they’re willing to throw him into the fire in his first full season.
Janith
5th December 2024, 10:36
9-1 actually
Carl Parker (@mysticarl)
2nd December 2024, 20:11
My early-season conspiracy was that RB would offload Perez to the junior squad, and sell the team to Andretti to remove the ‘2nd team’ issue – now obviously that’s not going to happen but I wonder if there’s another potential suitor out there which isn’t being widely circulated at the moment?
I do feel bad for Perez though. And for that matter, any of the ‘outgoing’ drivers now the cost cap is here. I think there’s a much bigger disparity for them between their spec and the car the lead driver has, because it can be worth that much more to the team for that other driver to be up there getting more points when the field is so much closer. The only exception is Ferrari but that could be down to the comparative lack of crash damage.
SPArtacus
3rd December 2024, 5:08
Except it doesn’t work like that. Only the junior team’s drivers have a contract that allows them to be swapped back-and-forth. The senior team’s driver contracts don’t allow demotion/swaps without them let alone their sponsors agreeing..
SteveR (@stever)
3rd December 2024, 5:56
And you know this how? Have you actually seen the contracts or know someone who has?
SPArtacus
3rd December 2024, 20:00
a) common sense: why would a driver accept a clause that would allow the team to demote him to a sister team?
b) what literally every respected journalist in the paddock has said.
c) No driver who signed for RBR from outside or who spent more than one season in the RBR has ever gone down to the junior team. Kyvat and Gasly, two junior drivers with no negotiating leverage, are the only ones who’ve gone back down to the junior team.
SteveP
3rd December 2024, 20:09
Well, Horner has stated to journo’s that all the drivers have a contract that allows Red Bull to place them in any of the seats.
Would Horner tell porkies?
OK, you’re probably right.
Le Jimster (@lejimster82)
2nd December 2024, 22:39
I really wanted Checo to compete with Max and I do think he’s underperformed vs what he’s capable of but there has to be a limit and he’s severely underwhelmed this season. Now as for his replacement long term from the drivers they have it has to be Lawson for me. Ideally though he would be given atleast a full season at RB to get his feet under the table. In the short term I think Tsunoda could do a better job than Checo but I don’t think he’s really in the running to be honest.
Mark Thomson (@melthom)
3rd December 2024, 0:06
Or, in a shock decision RB decides to hire KMag for one year.
SPArtacus
3rd December 2024, 5:12
Much crazier things have happened actually, but I expect Yuki to be in the seat come the start of 2025. I don’t think it likely, but my worst fear is that they’ll give Perez a race-by-race deal in which they can replace him at any time without financial penalty. After all, he’s usually been solid at the beginning of the season.
Kata
3rd December 2024, 1:47
“unlike Ricciardo’s poorly-handled exit at the Singapore Grand Prix earlier this year.”
I would also have liked to see another way of “farewell” of Ricc. But it has been mentioned enough that he didn’t want such thing happening and that’s why it didn’t.
Tristan
3rd December 2024, 4:21
Totally, he really does. The things he’s been saying lately about him having no chance at Red Bull for whatever the reason are shocking.
Sonny Crockett (@sonnycrockett)
3rd December 2024, 18:35
My left nad is available and fully willing to replace Perez.
I don’t mean to be harsh but I reckon it would be at least as good.
SteveP
4th December 2024, 18:24
While in this world of many possibilities it might be that you have extremely talented nads, I suspect that they are barely able to control themselves, never mind an F1 car.
I don’t dispute your comparison overly, though.
JMDan (@danmar)
4th December 2024, 0:14
My suggestion to RB: get out of F1. :-)