Red Bull Racing are muddling through a strategy over their driver line ups and so far have made a pretty poor job of it. New contracts were issued to both Sergio Perez and Yuki Tsunoda in June, yet it was the out of contract Daniel Ricciardo who faced the executioner this week.

To be fair to the eight times Grand Prix winner, neither Tsunoda or Perez have performed much better than he did and without the rush to sign the Mexica and Japanese driver’ for another year, the outcome could easily have been different.

Christian Horner explained the swift decision made by Red Bull to retain Perez after the summer break when it was widely expected in the paddock he would face the chop. Speaking to Sky F1 at the first F1 weekend after the shutdown, Horner dodged the issue asking his questioner, “Well, who would you put in? Who would you change him for?” 

 

 

 

Horner praises Perez ‘good tracks’

“We know what Checo’s capable of. At the beginning of the year, he had four podiums in five races. I think he’s just a lack of confidence and has ended up in a bit of spiral. I think he’s had a bit of a reset hopefully over the summer break.”

“We know that there’s tracks that he’s won at coming up. We’ve got Azerbaijan where he’s won both a Sprint and grand prix on the same weekend. He’s won a fantastic race in Singapore against Charles Leclerc in mixed conditions.

“He’s been very quick at Monza. Zandvoort hasn’t bene his best circuit, so of the four races coming up before the next mini-break, I would say this is his most challenging one.”

Yet Checo did not deliver on Red Bull’s hopes. Zandvoort saw Sergio qualify fifth and come home in P6, but the problem was Red Bull’s biggest challengers in McLaren saw their drivers classified in P1 and P4, closing the gap on Red Bull in the constructors’ title race.

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Checo failed to deliver

Then in Monza, Perez both qualified in eight place and finished the Grand Prix in exactly the same position. Again both McLaren drivers finished the Red Bull pairing and the gap was closed to just eight points.

The Azerbaijan Grand Prix weekend saw flashes of the old Sergio as he out qualified Max and started the Grand Prix from the second row of the grid. While challenging for a podium place on the penultimate lap, Checo collided with Carlos Sainz – and avoidable incident – and at one of his strongest tracks came home with nothing.

Singapore was a miserable weekend for the number two Red Bull driver. He was knocked out in Q2 and while Sergio recovered during the race, the best he could manage was a single point for P10.

So with his best circuits behind now us, what will be the reasoning for Red Bull retaining Sergio Perez any longer? Ex-F1 driver and Channel 4 presenter, David Coulthard, believes Checo could well find himself in the same boat as Daniel Ricciardo.

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Checo told ‘time is short’

“He did brilliantly in Baku, but one swallow doesn’t make a summer,” Coulthard told Channel 4. “One good result is not what you expect from your… he’s clearly the number two driver in that team. There was so much relief, I think, off the back of Baku.

“Then it’s a bit back to reality [in Singapore]. If he doesn’t keep getting some solid points in the remainder of the year, then… with Daniel Ricciardo on the way out the door, that could be the same situation for Perez.”

Red Bull could recall their academy driver Ayumu Iwasa who is racing in Super Formula in Japan particularly as he is probably not going to challenge for the championship. Or they could stick with Perez and almost certainly lose out to McLaren in the F1 constructors’ title race.

Yet Christian Horn’s comments following the disappointing Singapore Grand Prix appears to suggest Checo may yet have six races to prove his worth before the winter season.

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Horner backs his driver

“He had a good first lap, he got his elbows out and made a couple of decent passes, but then he got stuck,” said Horner. “He struggled with traction. He couldn’t get off the corners where he needed to, to get into an overtaking position.

The Red Bull boss though is clutching at straws given Perez has struggled with the balance between traction and tyre wear for much of the season.  “It was frustrating for him, but he got a point out of it and they will all add up at the end of the season,” said Horner.

“When you hunt in a pair, it’s always going to be easier. Checo [in Azerbaijan] was right there. [In Singapore] he struggled in quali then was out of position in the race.

“Hopefully, some of the tracks coming up, some of the upgrades that I hope we will bring over the next few races, there are big races for Checo and for the team.”

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Remaining circuits not Perez’s most successful

Well if we check Sergio’s history, in the final clutch of Grand Prix we find that he has just five all P3 podiums at these tracks. Two home in Mexico and one each in the Austin, Vegas and Abu Dhabi – and Red Bull know that.

These are hardly circuits where Perez has excelled. TJ13 believes Red Bull want to evaluate whether Liam Lawson is good enough to replace Sergio Perez in 2025, after all they already already saw the young New Zealand driver up against Yuki Tsunoda for five Grand Prix weekends. Yet they appeared reluctant following this summers test alongside Ricciardo to talk up Lawson’s pace or skill, in fact they kept the data well to themselves.

Should Lawson not persuade his new masters he’s the one to sit alongside Max, Red Bull’s choices are thin on the ground, unless they have a secret deal with Carlos Sainz and the Spaniard has an exit call from his new Williams contract.

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Lawson making ‘excuses’ before he gets behind the wheel at R

Liam Lawson enjoyed his F1 debut ;last year when he deputised for the injured Daniel Ricciardo who broke his hands during his comeback racing in Zandvoort. His five Grand Prix weekends saw him finish 2-1 ahead of team mate Yuki Tsunoda in the three races where both drivers finished.

Lawson and Ricciardo attended a test in Silverstone following this year’s birth Grand Prix, but unlike in 2023 when at a similar event Ricciardo was lauded as F1 worthy, Red Bull revealed little about Lawson’s performance.

The word in the paddock was the New Zealander failed to live up to expectations and as RTJ13 reports to day, Lawson’s future drive for the Red Bull organisation in 2025 is not yet secured… READ MORE