It feels like Groundhog Day as once again Sergio Perez future at Red Bull was in jeopardy. Having scored 103 points in the first six races of the 2024 formula One season, Checo has slumped to claiming just 28 points in th past eight events. Despite signing a new contract in May, Perez’s future has been the focus of heightened speculation since a report revealed Red Bull’s number two driver could be exited from the te4am at the summer break if he failed to remain within 100 points Max Verstappen. His tally was 146 behind following the Belgium Grand Prix right before the teams go into a four week break.

Christian Horner the evening reveals the team have decided to retain Checo’s services for the rest of this season and the expected promotion of Daniel Ricciardo alongside the world champion will now not happen. Today TJ13 reported that Richard and Lawson will now face of in a testing day shootout. both drivers will test in. Monza this week on Wednesday in 2022 cars as per FIA regulations.

“Checo remains a Red Bull Racing driver despite recent speculation and we look forward to seeing him perform at tracks he has previously excelled at after the summer break,” said Horner in a statement issued by a Red Bull spokesperson.

 

 

 

Red Bull desperate for constructors’ title

Red bull were the new kids on the block back in 2005 and in less than ten years in F1 they had claimed four constructor championships and four driver titles between 2010-2013 with Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber. The team were known as the ‘noisy neighbours’ during their years of dominance as this relative start up F1 outfit challenged the raceing establishment somewhat late to the party.

Then came the FIA new power unit regulations in 2014 and Mercedes R&D spend of over $1bn dwarfed the competition and saw the team dominate the sport for the best part of seven seasons. Even the year Lewis Hamilton lost out to Verstappen in Abu Dhabi 2021, Mercedes claimed their record eight consecutive constructors’ championship.

Last season when Perez had his mi season dip in form, Red Bull were never under threat from losing either title race but this year is a very different matter. Going into the summer break Red Bull are just 43 points ahead of McLaren, this time last year the gap to Mercedes in P2 was 256.

Max has won just one race in the last four as the competition close in on the early gains Red Bull made under the new 2022 ground effect F1 car design regulations. Both McLaren and Mercedes have outscored Red Bull since the Miami Grand Prix nine weekends ago. points scored by the top four team’s protagonists are as follows: Verstappen 141, Piastri 126, Hamilton 123, Norris 116, Leclerc 79, Sainz 79, Russell 79 and then Perez on juts 28.

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Red Bull lose the lead in championship

This kind of form should it continue would see McLaren who have outscored Red Bull by nine points a race on average since Miami see the historic British team overhaul Red Bull in the constructors’ championship by the time the F1 circus rolls into Austin Texas for the USGP. So the decision from Red Bull is a shock given most paddock observers believed Perez would be ditched and replaced by Daniel Ricciardo.

So why have Red Bull made a decision which appears to be set to cost them a seventh team championship?

Well Perez has offered some hope of improvement to the team with an excellent recovery driver in Hungary from P16 to P7. Checo appeared to benefit from the upgrades red Bull brought to Budapest and last time out in Belgium he qualified in P3 and started the race P2 following Max Verstappen’s ten place grid drop due to taking addition power unit components outside the FIA’s prescribed annual allowance.

However the race in Spa was disastrous for Checo as he lost out to Lewis Hamilton in turn one while suffering battery deployment difficulties. The Red Bull driver then just looked to be off the pace of the other front runners and ended up in P8, before Russell’s disqualification, upgraded to P7 when there Mercedes driver was confirmed to have had a car under weight.

Hamilton unhappy with Mercedes

 

 

 

Marko ‘not a fan’ of Perez

After his slump to eighth on the road (seventh after George Russell’s disqualification) at Spa, team boss Christian Horner struggled to conceal his disappointment at the result. But he also stressed that “nobody wants to make that decision” of replacing Perez and that the team is “behind him” to help recover form.

Dr. Marko was scathing over Perez performance: “Sergio had the opportunity to take a good result from second place. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case.” The Austrian was dismissive of the Mexican’s performance adding, “Especially in the last stint, he completely collapsed, where he set 1m48s lap times.”

Perez brings big sponsorship to the team and the cost of ditching him would see funds withdrawn from the likes of Disney, Telcel, Nescafe and KitKat. Whilst not of the order of the $100m Oracle team sponsorship deal, they cold add up to a total in the order of $30m plus.

Further, during the troubled start to the season when Christian Horner’s actions were under the microscope, Sergio Perez came out in support of his team boss immediately stating in contradiction to Jos versgtapen that the team was in fact “united” behind F1’s longest standing team principal. Verstappen chose not to comment on the matter sparking rumours of his early departure from the team.

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Red Bull decisions not emotional

Of course Red Bull are a hard nosed F1 outfit with their character forged in both success and failure. So an emotional decision based on C hero’s support is unlikely to be the reason for the team’s current decision. It could be that Sergio has another race or two to prove he is on the way back. Yet if the team championship appears to be at stake, Red Bull Racing can revisit this decision before the next set of flyaway races beginning with Azerbaijan.

The driver most likely to suffer form the Red Bull decision to retain Sergio Perez is Daniel Ricciardo. With Dr. Helmut Marko calling for Liam Lawson to be given a drive, it is the Australian who as yet has no contract beyond the close of this year.

Lawson’s contract with red Bull expires in the next four weeks and will need to be given a firm deal for the future, to prevent him from looking elsewhere for his first full time F1 drive.

F1 testing shootout planned for Ricciardo and Lawson

 

 

 

How Williams persuaded Carlos Sainz to join

Finally, as TJ13 reported earlier today, the start of the summer break is a classic moment in time for F1 drivers and teams to announce their future plans. In 2022 the day after the final race before the Sumer, Fernando Alonso declared he was leaving Alpine to join Fernando Alonso.

Now Williams and Carlos Sainz have revealed their future together with the Spaniard leaving Ferrari after four years of service. The deal is initially for two seasons although it is believed there is a an exit clause for Carlos should Red Bull or Mercedes come calling.

Red Bull are almost certainly going to replace Sergio Perez with Daniel Ricciardo, but should the Aussie prove no better than the Mexican driver over there final ten weekends of the season, the world champion F1 team may wish to recruit Sainz for 2025… READ MORE