To coin a phrase from the Christmas classic movie The Sound of Music, “How do you solve a problem like Perez?” is now firmly the most pressing issue faced by Red Bull Racing. Once again in Silverstone, Sergio failed to make it out of the first qualifying and in the race came home in P17 a miserable two laps behind the winner.

There is a crisis looming for the world champions though reading the points table for the team championship sees Red Bull for now remains relatively secure. Max has won just three of the last seven Grand Prix and the Milton Keynes squad are just third in the cumulative points tally scored since the race in Florida with McLaren having score 171, Mercedes 157 and RBR 134.

Ferrari of course have imploded and the once challengers to Red Bull in the early stages of the year have faded away scoring just 115 points since Miami despite Charles Leclerc subsequently wining in Monaco with his team mate coming home third.

 

 

 

Perez exit clause

In the course of the latest six Grand Prix, Sergio has collected just 15 points and the extent of his misery appears to have no end in sight. Even the mood music from Christian Horner has changed in recent weeks, rather than dismissing his Mexican drivers’ failings as a blip, he stated before the Silverstone race that Checo’s form was “unsustainable”, adding “We have to be scoring points in that car and he knows that.

“He knows his role and his target and so nobody is more eager than Checo to get back and find his form again.” Sergio was awarded a new contract before the Monaco Grand Prix which at the time was lauded as a new two year deal. 

The reality is the contract is a one year commitment with an option for a second year if the team decide so, but Dutch publication De Telegraf recently reported there are clauses in Perez’s contract which allow for him to be demoted the the junior RB team should he fall more than 100 points behind his team mate Verstappen by the time of the F1 summer break in two races time. Sergio is currently 137 points behind Verstappen.

The Red Bull junior driver Liam Lawson is set for a test drive at Silverstone this week and in similar circumstances last year Daniel Ricciardo impressed in a similar outing and was immediately parachuted into Alpha Tauri to replace the unsuccessful Nyck De Vries.

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Sergio admits to two races

With this in mind, Perez was asked about the current state of his contract with Red Bull and replied to assembled media, “I know where I am in terms of contract and that sort of thing. I cannot let it be a distraction. 

“I need to focus on the next two weekends, which are the priority, and together as a team, to get out of this difficult period,”

Yet despite the details of the contract, Jenson Button believes Red Bull need to act urgently before they become at risk of losing out in the contributors’ championship over the second half of the 2024 F1 season.

“It’s a massive, massive issue,” the 2009 World Champion told Sky F1. “This [Silverstone] was a terrible weekend. It was unlucky in some ways as well. This isn’t going to happen every race weekend, but for McLaren to be taking this many points out of them, it’s big.

“He needs to be scoring some points at least. Even if he’s not directly behind Max. They can’t let it go on forever.”

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No RBR test for Tsunoda

The upcoming Liam Lawson test session will give the Red Bull leadership the opportunity to force change as they did last year. Though it appears Christian Horner is satisfied with Daniel Ricciardo’s recent uptick in form and it would be the Australian rather than the young New Zealander who would step up to partner Max Verstappen in the RB20.

“I think in the next race, if he’s not scoring points again – soon enough they’ve got to get him out of the car and put someone else in,” added Button. “It’s tough, I know it’s not a nice feeling for a driver, it’s horrible, but for them the championship is important.”

Interestingly Yuki Tsunoda who recently was awarded another two years with the Red Bull group has never been offered a test in a Red Bull car as has Ricciardo and now Lawson, and team boss Christian Horner was hardly enthusiastic over the idea of promoting their Japanese driver to replace Sergio Perez.

“You can never rule anything out,” Horner replied when asked by RacingNews365 if the 24-year-old could step up to the main team in the future. “We have options for multiple years on him because we believe he’s a talent.”

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Indecision at Red Bull

When asked why Tsunoda had not been offered a test like Lawson and Ricciardo, Horner replied: “He’s a Red Bull Racing driver. He’s on a Red Bull Racing contract. You never know. Maybe he’ll get a test one day. You never know.”

Tsunoda turned the tables on Ricciardo’s recent run of form during the Silverstone weekend. He qualified in thirteenth and came home P10 to collect another point for the tea. Meanwhile his team mate made progress from his P15 start to take the chequered flag three spots below his Japanese team mate.

Horner noted the “good job” Yuki was now doing, but chose to highlight the impact Daniel Ricciardo has had on the hotheaded young racer from Japan. “I think he’s benefited from having Daniel [Ricciardo] alongside him. He’ll openly admit that he’s learned from Daniel, in terms of having an experienced driver and how they interact with the team and the engineers. 

“Yuki’s not a rookie anymore. He’s got quite a lot of experience now under his belt, and you can see he’s putting that to good use – and in difficult conditions like today, I thought he drove a very good race.”

Red Bull have decisions to make and quickly, although the in fighting within the team this year has made matters more difficult to the team to resolve. Dr. Marko is pressing for Lawson to get his chance in F1, but appears ambivalent over whether that Checo or Ricciardo should make way the next young driver to take their chance in the Red Bull F1 family.

Ricciardo SLAMS RB

 

 

 

Huge admission by Horner over Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton’s recent triumph at the British Grand Prix in Silverstone was a significant moment, not just for the passionate English fans, but for the entire Formula 1 community. Marking his first Grand Prix win since Saudi Arabia in 2021, Hamilton’s performance was particularly noteworthy.

One individual who has historically been critical of Hamilton, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner, has now expressed admiration for the Mercedes driver… READ MORE