The big Milton Keynes pow wow takes place today. Dr. Helmut Marko has flown in from the continent to as he and Christian Horner sit down to discuss amongst other matters the future of Sergio Perez.
In Hungary the 81 year old Austrian confirmed there was an exit clause in the Mexican driver’s contract which is believed to state if Checo is more than 100 points behind Verstappen at the summer break, the team can activate their option to release him immediately. The current gap is 146.
“All Formula 1 contracts have exit clauses, most of them related to performance or let’s say for the top drivers,” Marko told assembled media in Budapest. “We will have an evaluation during the summer break and then we will make a decision.”
RBR driver futures showdown talks
Dr. Marko last week used his weekly column for Speedweek to big up the Red Bull junior drivers of Liam Lawson, Issac Haadjar, Arvin Lindblad and Ayuma Iwassa who is racing in Japanese Super Formula this season.
Lawson has been promised a drive for the Racing Bulls but his contract with the Red Bull organisation expires during August this season. Marko even suggested the recent change of rules allowing under 18 years of age drivers to be considered for an F1 drive, could benefit Linblad who the Austrian explains: “He is only 16 years old and we are delighted that he can now drive in Formula 1 at 17.”
When Marko communicates he does so always with an agenda and his recent revelation that the Red Bull shareholders want the RB’s to return to being an F1 team where junior talent is bloodied, speaks volumes.
The Austrian does not favour retaining either Sergio Perez or Daniel Ricciardo, who was the pick of Christian Horner when the Aussie was released from his McLaren contract.
Max and dad Jos disagree over future team mate
Max stokes Ricciardo rumours
Despite the close relationship between Max Verstappen and Marko, it appears their views on future Red Bull F1 drivers are not entirely aligned. Max has now stoked the rumours of Ricciardo being promoted along side him after the summer break by posting a video of himself and Daniel leaving the Spa Francorchamps circuit together.
Riccardo has been racing well in recent weeks and his upgraded P10 position and single point in Spa was well deserved following George Russell’s disqualification.
Rumours emerged this weekend that Red Bull are in fact to hold at test on Wednesday this week in Monza. PlanetF1 claimed this will be a shootout between Daniel Ricciardo and Liam Lawson to see who is the quickest and will replace Perez.
With Red Bull having used their two allocated ‘filming day’ test allowance for this season, the test will take place with the two year old Alpha Tauri car as allowed for by the FIA regulations. Ricciardo will feel confident of the venue given it was in Monza when the Aussie claimed his last Grand Prix win while driving for McLaren.
Test a sop to Marko
This test is clearly a sop to Dr. Marko as Christian Horner favours just promoting Ricciardo for the last ten races of this year and seeing how he copes alongside Verstappen.
Allegedly, whoever comes out on top in the test will get the Red Bull drive after the Sumer break. PlanetF1 state while “there is no clear favourite between the pair as it stands, speculation that Ricciardo could get the nod intensified after the Australian was caught in discussion with Christian Horner and Laurent Mekies, the team principals of Red Bull and VCARB respectively, in the paddock following the race at Spa.”
The video clip posted by Verstappen shows himself and Ricciardo giving a thumbs up to the camera and plays to the sound track with the lyrics: “Hello, I’ve got places to be.”
Whilst Perez had a drop off in form last season but came back late in the year to clinch P2 in the drivers’ championship from Charles Leclerc. However, this year is no repeat of Checo’s 2023 mid-season form given he has now fallen from P2 to P8 behind all the other drivers in the top four teams.
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Perez collapse in eight races
Just eight races ago following the Miami Grand Prix, Perez was in P2 on 103 points to Max’s 136. Now a gulf has opened up due to Checo scoring just 28 points over those Grand Prix weekends.
Add to all this the gap from Red Bull to McLaren (P2) is becoming critical. Last year Red Bull had a 256 points lead over Mercedes in second place – going into the summer break. This year as McLaren gained ground again in Spa the difference is just 42 points.
Christian Horner is desperate for Red Bull to claim their seventh team title as they chase down the eight scored by Mercedes with arch rival Toto Wolff in charge.
Ricciardo had a successful first five years with Red Bull (2014-2018) and some F1 commentators believe the success of his first season with the team persuaded Sebastian Vettel to leave for Ferrari. Daniel was Verstappen’s team mate for two and a half seasons and fared well against the rising star, something Perez appears incapable of doing now.
Mercedes ‘cheating?’ Russell DSQ
Ricciardo improvement continues
After an iffy start to the season where Ricciardo was out qualified by his team mate week in and out, there Aussie has now registered four points finish in twelve races, three of which have come in the last six in addition to a fourth place in the Miami Sprint.
The recent Grand Prix have seen Daniel improve his team mate qualifying comparison to 5-9, which is better than Sergio Perez (14-0), Lewis Hamilton (4-10), Oscar Piastri (2-12), Pierre Gasly (4-10), Zhou Guanyu (1-13), Kevin Magnussen (3-11) and of course the hapless Logan Sargeant (0-14).
Only Carlos Sainz and Lance Stroll also have a score of five against Charles Leclerc and Fernando Alonso, but of course the Spaniard was forced to miss the race in Jeddah.
Sainz ‘coded nod’ to Williams F1 team
As has been written copious times before, Carlos Sainz is the cork in the bottle of the F1 driver market because he has offers to drive next year from three different outfits. Of course all three can’t acquire the services of the Spaniard, so at least two drivers are waiting on Sainz to make up his mind.
Carlos made an interesting comment over the weekend in Spa when he told journalists, “On the thinking side, I’m pretty calm. I know what I want and why I’m waiting.”
This could well imply that Sainz believes there is an opportunity outside of Sauber/Audi, Williams and Alpine about to emerge. If so then with no vacancies at Aston Martin, McLaren and Ferrari, this leaves either Mercedes or Red Bull as possibilities amongst the front running teams… READ MORE
With over 30 years of experience in Formula 1 as an insider journalist, I have built trusted connections across the paddock, from race engineers and mechanics to senior team figures. At The Judge 13, I and a handful of trusted colleagues share exclusive Formula 1 news, expert analysis and behind-the-scenes stories you will not find in mainstream motorsport media.
