Red Bull Racing have a formidable reputation as one of the most hardened competitors amongst their current rivals in Formula One. They almost completed the ‘perfect’ season of racing in 2023 when the team won twenty two of the twenty three Grand Prix on offer.

Rolling into testing in Bahrain for this year, again it was Red Bull who looked the team to beat. Come the Grand Prix a week later, it was Max Verstappen romping home to victory by a winning margin that eclipses even Norris’ the last time out in Singapore.

The squad from Milton Keynes won seven of the first ten events through Max Verstappen, although over that time it was not clear whether McLaren or Ferrari were the main challenger. 

 

 

 

McLaren overhaul Red Bull

This to a degree covered up for the fact that Sergio Perez was not really delivering after China. When McLaren had a good weekend, Red Bull would outscore Ferrari substantially with Max wining the race and Perez scoring enough to match or beat the haul of points for the Scuderia.

And it was similar when Ferrari were better than McLaren. Yet now McLaren have established themselves firmly as the quickest team on the grid and they find themselves some 41 points ahead of the world champions going into the COTA weekend.

The papaya liveried team are now favourites for the constructors’ title having won four of the last six Grand Prix and coming home second in those Norris or Piastri failed to win.

It appeared the final straw in Red Bull’s hopes of a seventh team title disappeared up in carbon fibre shards when Checo in Baku was battling for third place with Carlos Sainz. As the pair entered the penultimate lap Sainz made a move on Perez, but the Mexican driver came back on the inside.

FIA withdraw from Verstappen confrontation

 

 

 

Perez share of points not good enough

The pair collided and gone were twelve to fifteen points for Red Bull which would have seen them within single digits of McLaren at the top of the table.

Yet had Sergio Perez delivered a similar share of points to Red Bull as have the ‘number two’ drivers in McLaren, Mercedes and Ferrari, the world champions would pretty much be home and dry and have closed the gap to Mercedes by just one team title.

Christian Horner revealed in Singapore that the Red Bull driver pairing had to be better balanced come 2025. For most this means replacing Sergio Perez and as far as Dr. Marko is concerned, with a “young driver alongside Max Verstappen.”

Max Verstappen has this year amounted 331 points while Sergio Perez has just 144 something Horner vowed to address: “We need to make sure that with both of our drivers, that there’s not a big gap between them because you can’t afford to have that.”

Red Bull surprise B-Spec car in COTA

 

 

 

Perez “100%” defiant

Currently Red Bull have the largest gap between their drivers of any F1 team on the grid. This is the nature of the challenge for the world champions.

Yet despite almost being universally accepted by most F1 commentators that Checo is starting his final run of six Grand Prix weekends, the Red Bull driver insists in Austin he will 100% be driving at Red Bull next year.

“Sometimes people just link these rumours and a lot of people pick it up, especially back in Mexico, with the Mexican Grand Prix coming up I didn’t want my fans to be misled into false information,” Sergio explained.

“I just wanted to make it clear that I 100% will be here next year,” Perez told the official F1 channel. “I have my contract and I will fulfil it and that’s not in my mind. In my mind is to sort out the issues we have for the moment with the car.”

Piastri: Surprise McLaren exit 2025?

 

 

 

Lawson v Tsunoda evaluation

Liam Lawson will join the RB ranks this weekend, following the dismissal of Daniel Ricciardo at the Singapore Grand Prix. Lawson stood in for the injured Aussie last season and won plaudits from all corners of the paddock as he took the fight well and truly to his team mate Yuki Tsunoda.

Dr. Marko has now pitched the pair in a six weekend long Battle Royale, with the winner taking Sergio’s seat next year. Whilst rarely discussed as a Red Bull driver in his four seasons with the organisation, Tsunoda is firmly in line for promotion following comments from Dr. Marko this week.

“Tsunoda is a candidate to drive alongside Max in 2025,” Marko told F1 Insider this week which confirms his view when Liam Lawson was announced as Yuki’s team mate.

“Liam Lawson can now contest the last six rounds of the World Championship for the Racing Bulls team, we will evaluate how he compares to Yuki Tsunoda and then we will see,” Marko wrote in his column for Speedweek. “He has to deliver a Formula 1 worthy performance, as he has already done in his previous GP appearances.”

Report: Liberty Media set to lose billions of dollars

 

 

 

Lawson apparent lack of confidence

Lawson has clearly been made aware of the opportunity and the coming scrutiny given his comments when it was announced he was replacing Ricciardo.

“Obviously I’m very happy, but it’s six rounds left in the season, so I’m coming in at a difficult time,” he said. “It’s going to be a very challenging point. All these [drivers] have done three quarters of a season now, so I have to try and compete with that – at tracks that I haven’t done [driven at] as well.”

The seriousness of the opportunity is clearly sinking for the New Zealander given Lawson was so swift to point out the advantage Tsunoda has over him.

Sergio’s “100%” assurance he will be racing at Red Bull next year appears a fantasy in the light of his awful performance and the words of Dr. Marko. Yet this stubborn approach suggests Checo will not be announcing his retirement at next weeks Mexico Grand Prix.

Russian F1 driver Mazepin breaks silence

 

 

 

Red Bull opened a can of worm

In just a few hours, the Formula One teams will wake up and reveal the results of their labours during the new autumn break. Most of the competitors are expected to bring upgrades but it is the Red Bull RB20 which will attract the most attention.

Paddock whispers suggest Red Bull have created late in the year a ‘B-Spec car’ designed to turn around its lack of performance for the last six race weekends.

The notion of B-Spec car has changed in F1 over the years, but even so, if true this will have used a significant amount of Red Bull’s restricted resources and indeed the COTA revised RB20 may then become the platform Red Bull are intending to use for 2025… READ MORE