Last Updated on March 14 2024, 5:38 pm

Much will be written in the coming weeks of what driver lineup the world champion Formula One team will field for 2025. Sergio Perez now in his fourth year with the team has for much of that time been under the cosh given his relative performance to Max Verstappen has been poor.

Yet despite extreme media speculation Red Bull Racing would ditch the Mexican driver this season, Christian Horner stood by Checo refusing to replace him with the eight time Grand Prix winner who used to partner Max successfully.

 

 

 

Perez survived the Max factor better than the rest

In fact Sergio has survive the ‘Max factor’ rather better than his predecessors. Pierre Gasly was promoted from Toro Rosso alongside Verstappen for the 2019 season, but was dumped back to the junior squad after the summer break, replaced by Alex Albon.

Albon too had just one full season to prove himself against the now three time world champion and was then fired by Red Bull and left without a drive for 2021. The Thai-British driver was replaced by Sergio Perez who is now the longest partner Verstappen has ever had eclipsing the three seasons Daniel Ricciardo race alongside the dutchman with some success.

Ricciardo has struggled to eclipse his junior and erratic Racing Bulls team mate Yuki Tsunoda having been brought back to replace another Red Bull driver casualty Nyck de Vries. The likeable Australian is 5-3 down in the count in the inter team battle for finishing positions in the eight GP events where they have raced together.

After another poor showing in Jeddah, Dr. Helmut Marko fired a shot across the bows of Ricciardo, stating “there’s a lot at stake this season for both Yuki (Tsunoda) and Daniel,” he told Speed Week.

Marko claims Horner secretly lined up Max replacement 

 

 

 

Marko wants Ricciardo to ‘buck up’

Marko spoke positively about one aspect of the Japanese current driving form, but merely left a question mark hanging over Daniel’s future prospects with the team.

“Yuki’s qualifying performance was very good, but Ricciardo has to come up with something soon.”

Now another of the Red Bull stable of ex-drivers claims Max Verstappen cost him his career in the sport. Russian driver Daniil Kvyat was promoted to the big boy Red Bull team for the 2015 season having impressed driving for Toro Rosso the previous year.

He had the unenviable task of replacing Red Bull’s quadruple world champion driver Sebastian Vettel who had the call from Ferrari. He became the second youngest ever driver behind Vettel to score a podium when at 21 years, 912 days he scored a second place finish at the 2015 Hungarian Grand Prix.

Max frozen out of RBR meetings while threat to leave remains

 

 

 

Kvyat relegated from Red Bull team

Kvyat that year beat his team mate Daniel Ricciardo who a year earlier demolished Sebastian Vettel in the same car. So the Russian was retained for 2016. He struggled in round one, coming P7 next time out then claimed a P3 podium slot at the Chinese Grand Prix. Yet having crashed clumsily into Sebastian Vettel round four at his home race, the infamous Red Bull driver axe was wielded with swift action.

Daniil was dropped back to Toro Rosso and Max Verstappen promoted to take his seat at Red Bull Racing. In just over a year the dutchman had skipped any of the international junior formula racing as was now behind the wheel for the former quadruple world champions.

The Russian has now spoken out over his experience with Red Bull and claims him being relegated to Toro Rosso, “was a stab in the back and that’s life, you get stabbed in the back sometimes you know, it’s normal. Now it’s the past,” he admitted. 

“I have another good career in racing so part of me of course is very thankful to Red Bull. The other part of me is still very unhappy with it.”

RB20 already looks to new 2026 regulations

 

 

 

Daniil Kvyat made a Ferrari offer

However Kvyat now makes a shock revelation previously unreported by the F1media that Verstappen’s promotion cost him a drive promisee by Ferrari.

“I was performing really well and I just scored another podium for the team [at the 2016 Chinese Grand Prix] and then at the time I had also a proposal to race for Ferrari to replace Kimi Raikkonen,” he sensationally claimed, adding: “That was going on behind the curtain.”

The Russian driver explains deep down he knew his chance of competing in a front of the grid F1 car had gone and how the loss of his Ferrari option played on his mind.

“It was a very difficult situation also for me mentally to go back from being wanted by Ferrari and having seen the contract and then you go back to Toro Rosso suddenly and then you’re like, it’s not going very well suddenly.”

F1 sale price now with $40bn price tag

 

 

 

Daniel claims third stint at Red Bull

Yet Red Bull kept the door open for Daniil by retaining his services at Toro Rosso in 2017. He saw his co-driver Pierre Gasly promoted that year to Red Bull, only to be sent back to race alongside Kyat after an unimpressive start to the year. 

Another of Kvyat’s team mates Alex Albon was then called on high and he managed to retain his drive alongside into the following season.

Kvyat was dropped for 2019 and became the Ferrari reserve driver only to be given a third spell at the newly renames Alpha Tauri team in 2020 which had been his former hone when called Torro Rosso. Daniil came 14th in the drivers standings that year and his contract was not renewed seeing him fall of of F1 favour ever since.

Now the Russian driver is looking forward to a new career in Nascar. He has represented Sam Hunt Racing in the Xfinity Series back in 2022 and for the full NASCAR squad Team Hexeberg on three occasions.

Ferrari ambitious bid to dethrone RBR detailed

 

 

 

NASCAR future for the Russian driver

“I’m excited to get back into NASCAR. I had a lot of fun in my previous races,” says the Russian driver.

“ The competition style is very different from F1 and World Endurance,” a thrilled Kvyat claimed. “I’m especially looking forward to my race at COTA. I’ve been there with F1, so it will be interesting to experience the track in a Camaro.”

Team owner Bobby Dotter was also happy, saying: “I’m thrilled to have Daniil in the #07 at COTA. You can’t get much better than a former F1 driver for a road course ringer. Daniil is a great competitor, but he’s also a great partner for our team.”

Of course driving a NASCAR machine is chalk and cheese from an F1 car, but the fact Kvyat is racing on a permanent road course rather than an oval means the occasion on the whole will feel more familiar to the Russian F1 driver who was one race away from a deal with Ferrari.

German press reports Horner wants Newey gone

 

 

 

Hamilton “not putting in the effort” concerns Ferrar

Lewis Hamilton was always in for a tough year following his announcement before the season began, he would be leaving for Ferrari next season. As time wears on Mercedes will exclude him from certain meetings where the topic is the development of their 2025 F1 challenger.

The seven times world champion has now been out qualified by team mate George Russell in the last four consecutive Grand Prix meetings and finished ahead of Lewis in the last three races…. READ MORE