Despite this being the most competitive Formula One season in years, much of the column inches penned surround the current team driver lineups. At least two of those currently on the grid will be leaving the sport following the confirmation of Oliver Bearman at Haas F1 and the fact that Red Bull’s Liam Lawson is all but confirmed to drive next season.

Two drivers are 0-12 in Grand Prix qualifying to their team mates, one being Logan Sargeant and the other Sergio Perez. Williams team boss has all but said the American will be leaving the team having signed Alex Albon on a multi-year deal and publicly announced that Carlos Sainz is their number one target.

Sergio Perez too received a contract extension early in the season but his form has collapsed in the interim seeing him make top ten qualifying just twice in the past six races and on both occasions in Austria and Spain claiming a lowly grid slot of P8.

 

 

 

Perez way worse than last year

Over the course of these events, Red Bull have lost ground to both Mercedes and McLaren and whilst Verstappen’s lead in the drivers’ title race is relatively secure at present, Red Bull’s hopes to notch up their seventh constructors’ championship looks dubious at present.

Much has been made of Sergio’s ‘dip in form’ and comparison’s are being made to the summer of 2023. Yet this season the Mexican’s results are far worse and a similar comeback to the end of last year is nigh on impossible. Over the course of the 20 races Checo completed in 2023, he finished outside the top 6 in Grand Prix only three times.

In the six Grand Prix rounds since Miami this season, Sergio has failed to make the top six at all and scored just 14 points for his team. Meanwhile Oscar Piastri in just his second year in F1 has two second places and collected 76 points for a resurgent McLaren team in the same time frame.

Christian Horner has been answering questions about his underperforming driver and until recently his stock answer included comments stating the team were doing everything in their power to understand Sergio’s difficulty starting confidently he will return to form as he did last year.

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Marko changes his tune

Yet like Samson following his enforced haircut, Sergio cannot raise the strength to recover one more time and his team principal changed the mood music at the recent British Grand Prix. Horner described Perez’s results as “unsustainable” for the first time, a sign the Mexican’s days are numbered with the world champions.

Political wrangling at Red Bull have seen consultant Dr. Helmut Marko and Christian Horner pitched against each other on numerous occasions. The 81 year old Austrian suggested in Jeddah he may be suspended for the next round in Australia, implying if this was the case it would be down to the will of Christian Horner.

Then in Austria, Dr. Marko claimed Ricciardo’s future was on the line, a driver known to have been favoured by Horner when he was recruited following his sacking by McLaren. 

“The goal was that with exceptional performances he [Ricciardo] would be in the frame for Red Bull Racing. That seat now belongs to Sergio Perez, so that plan is void,” added Marko. “You have to put a young driver there soon. That would then be Liam Lawson.”

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Perez contract review confirmed

What a difference two weeks make as Dr. Marko is being forced to change his tune ahead of big decisions coming in the Red Bull group. When asked whether Sergio’s new contract has an exit clause Marko confirms, “All Formula 1 contracts have exit clauses, most of them related to performance or let’s say for the top drivers.”reports GrandPrix247.

“We will have an evaluation during the summer break and then we will make a decision.”

Recent F1 publications have reported Perez’s new deal included a performance rating which states he must remain within 100 points of his team mate, or face the possibility of sacking from his current role.

When asked whether Marko’s favourite Liam Lawson should be ushered in to replace Perez, the Austrian responded:“First we have to see. Lawson is testing at Silverstone on Thursday.”

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RB return to a junior driver team

Of course Thursday came and went and now a day later the team will be examining the data from the Silverstone test. Yet the force behind Lawson joining the group of Red Bull drivers on the F1 grid is nigh on unstoppable since Dr. Marko revealed “The [Red Bull] shareholders have made it known that it [RB] is a junior team and we have to act accordingly.”

Feeling the rumour that a Perez review will take place during the summer break Marko continues, “so two more races and there will be more outings with Lawson. There’s also Yuki Tusnoda who is doing very well.”

Marko admits Red Bull have a problem with the lack of points coming from Checo. “We have a situation where our second driver unfortunately isn’t performing as he should. So we will have an evaluation in the summer break of what we are going to do.”

Meanwhile Dr. Marko pretty much confirmed that Liam Lawson would not be the immediate replacement for Perez when he discussed the progression of another Red Bull junior driver, Arvid Linblad, who has impressed in F3 this season with six wins to date.

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Lawson will not partner Max

“First of all, I’m not looking for a new Max because Max is unique,” he explained. “And it will be difficult for anyone to be his team-mate.

“Lindblad is only 16 years old. So it’s difficult to say but you saw the race at Silverstone, the Feature Race where he had enormous pressure from [Gabriele] Mini is his second year and two years older with far more experience. He held him off and in the end, Mini cooked his tyres trying to catch him.

“For his age, he’s very mature and a lot of confidence like Liam Lawson. It might be the best thing to give them first a year at VCARB and then move up to Red Bull Racing,” Marko concludes.

So when the axe finally falls for Checo, it will be either Yuki Tsunoda or Daniel Ricciardo who is given the privilege of becoming Max Verstappen’s team mate. Given Marko’s shift in position over Perez, it could be he’s paving the way for Horner’s preferred choice of Ricciardo to be announced as Sergio’s replacement.

Lawson test proves D-Day for Red Bull driver lineup

 

 

 

 

Williams boss indicates mid-season driver change imminent

The 2024 Formula One season has been dominated off track with back door conversations between teams and drivers like none in recent history. At least two of the current field will be leaving the sport given rookie Oliver Bearman has been confirmed by Haas F1 and Dr. Helmut Marko insists Liam Lawson will be full time in an RB car either before the season finale or certainly for 2025.

Yet despite Lewis Hamilton kicking off the ‘silly season’ before a wheel turned in anger, matters have dragged on to the point where the normal time frame for deciding on next years driver line up has resumed.

With just two races before the summer break is upon us the pieces of the jigsaw are set soon to fall intro place. The drama in 2022 began with Sebastian Vettel announcing his retirement at the last race before August, then just one day after the summer break began Fernando Alonso decided he was leaving Alpine for Aston Martin… READ MORE