As has been said before, Carlos Sainz is the current cork in the bottle neck of the Formula One driver market. The Spaniard has been forced out of Ferrari following there decision by those above Fred Vasseur to recruit Lewis Hamilton for the next two seasons.

Sainz has an open offer on the table from Williams, a long term conversation has been taking place with Audi even before Carlos was effectively dismissed and now the appointment of Flavio Briatore to Alpine sees another option on the table for the three times Grand Prix winner.

Despite James Vowles stating publicly in Canada that Sainz was Williams “number one target” and a draft press release prepared to announce the move in Spain, Sainz is now dragging his feet presumably because he believes there is a better option about to open up.

 

 

 

Red Bull third best scoring team

If this is the case, then it can only be the Red Bull seat of Sergio Perez that could become available given the hapless performances the Mexican has been putting in over the recent weeks. Perez has scored just 15 points in five races while his team mate Max Verstappen collected 101 notches on the abacus.

Red Bull have slipped to just the third highest scoring team during this period, their 116 points is behind Mercedes with 132 and McLaren have claimed 144. Matters could have been even worse had Verstappen not recovered from his crash with Norris in Austria to bring home a valuable 10 points from his classified P5.

Yet never has the gulf appeared wider between the world champion and his team mate than in Austria given despite suffering a puncture, limping back to the pits, serving a ten second penalty – yet Max still finished some 17 seconds ahead of his team mate.

The gap in the one third distance Sprint was similar from Verstappen to Perez who has now finished outside the top six in the last five Grand Prix.

Norris “pathetic” says Marko

 

 

 

RB upgrades were “rushed”

Another driver under pressure is Daniel Ricciardo who was brought into the team as back up should Perez continue to disappoint. Yet the Aussie has had his own problems this year and in Austria Christian Horner refused to rule out a driver swap at RB mid-season replacing Ricciardo with youngster Liam Lawson.

Yet there are signs Daniel has made the better of the big upgrade the team brought to Barcelona although the team’s CEO, Peter bayer, admitted in Austria they probably “rushed through” the new components without fully understanding how this would affect the setup of the car.

“We kept pushing at the factory to bring the upgrade again, a race early,” he said. “Originally, the plan was to bring it here.

“We had perhaps not done all the analysis we should have or needed, in fact, to have all the bits and pieces ready. It was a bit of a belly flop, perhaps, but we’ve learned from it. We took it back to the factory. This morning, we’ve run very different packages on both cars to provoke data.”

FIA “powerless” to punish Max further

 

 

 

SHOCK news of Williams offer to Ricciardo

RB’s momentum was lost at the circuit de Catalunya as both drivers crashed out of Q1 in disappointing fashion. Yet it has been Ricciardo who has delivered for RB in the past three races scoring points in two while Tsunoda has a best classification of P14.

This weekend in Silverstone is crucial for Ricciardo as with just three Grand Prix remaining before the summer break,  the window for a Red Bull driver switch is open based on last year’s decision to ditch Nyck de Vries.

Yet SHOCK news is emerging from the paddock today as Williams are tiring of waiting for Sainz to agree a contract with them. Will Buxton, the narrator of Drive to Survive, reveals today to F1TV that Ricciardo is both in peril but may have a lifeline all at the same time.

“His entire future [is] on the line right now,” he said. “There is much talk that he will be out of this seat after the summer break. There is talk that he may be in negotiations with Williams for their second seat next year alongside Alex Albon.

“Williams, as we understand, are sick of waiting for Carlos Sainz to make his mind up on where he wants to go next year and may close that door off for him.”

“That’s the goal” says Newey on the future

 

 

 

From F1 exit to double options

With the announcement that Oliver Bearman will be driving for Haas next season, there remain six F1 seats available for next year – including Ricciardo’s at RB. These are Mercedes (one), Haas (one), Alpine (one), Sauber (one) and Williams (one).

Although realistically should Daniel receive the order of the Red Bull boot only Haas and Williams are realistic opportunities for the likeable Aussie. After months of doubt it could be Daniel’s future is now in his own hands even James Vowles has made it clear Logan Sargeant will be out for next year and he is looking for an experienced driver to commit to the Williams.

In a bizarre twist of fate a good result for Daniel ate this weekends British Grand Prix could see him offered two drives for next year rather than the F1 exit he was facing a couple of races ago.

Marko responds to engine problem rumours at Red Bull

 

 

 

Ricciardo claims Red Bull loyalty

Asked recently whether he had options outside RB for 2025, Ricciardo was adamant: “I would say no. I mean, I don’t know. Not to be stubborn or arrogant about it, but I’m not looking anywhere else. I’ve said it, I really do enjoy being back in the family.

“I weirdly do enjoy sometimes a little bit of pokes from Helmut, because I think it also can also be a way to get me a little bit fired up and try and get the best out of me.”

Of course with Red Bull failing to commit to Ricciardo’s future, the reality is Daniel will accept a drive at Williams for the impressive team boss James Vowles who is driving a revolution at the iconic British racing marque.

Steiner hits out at Newey/Ferrari move

 

 

 

 

Horner refuses to rule out Ricciardo/Lawson mid season switch

For the first time in Formula One history, each team lined up for the first Grand Prix of the season with the same drivers they had for the finale in Abu Dhabi last November. Yet the uncertainty over where a number of the drivers will be for 2025 is high with a number who will be switching teams and some who will be forced to leave the sport.

Zhou Guanyu sits currently with zero points this year as does Valtteri Bottas and Logan Sargeant and with the exception of the ex-Mercedes driver the other pair are almost definitely heading out for F1. Another driver who has performed poorly against his team mate – and is not Sergio Perez is also facing the bullet, although for Daniel Ricciardo this has been rumoured to be happening before the resumption after the summer break.

Ricciardo was brought Ito the team following his sacking at McLaren and was expected to replace Sergio Perez when his contract expired this season. Yet the Mexican driver has signed a shiny new deal with the Red Bull team despite his results on track spiralling downwards…

 

 

 

Perez record worse than 2023

Perez was under pressure last season around this time of the year given his results were deteriorating after he had won two of the first four Grand Prix of the season. Yet Checo recovered to take second place in the drivers’ championship and all looked good again at the start of this year.

Perez claimed three P2’s in the first four races and next time out was third in China. However, since the return to Shanghai, Checo has a best result of P4 in Miami followed by three lower points scoring positions and two DNF’s of his own making.

Last year despite qualifying poorly, Sergio claimed a top six Grand Prix finish all but three of the 20 races he finished. Contrast that to the present where Perez has failed to make the top six in five of the Grand Prix since Miami. Of course Christian Horner weekly has to field questions over the underperforming RB driver, yet for now he has defended the Australian starting his work behind the scenes has been invaluable to the team’s progress.

Yuki Tsunoda intimated that Ricciardo had ‘saved his F1 career’ since joining RB 11 races into last year as the Japanese driver has learned from his experienced tea mate not to scream down team radio when things go wrong but to remain calm and let his driving do the talking…. READ MORE