Last Updated on October 22 2024, 2:16 pm
With Formula One taking its first autumn break for three race weekends the anticipation coming into the USGP was huge. Red Bull were bringing a significant number of upgrades as the world champions sought to halt the momentum McLaren have been building.
Since the British Grand Prix, McLaren had outscored the Milton Keynes squad by a whopping 129 points and were leading the constructors’ title race by 41 points.
Other storylines were also closely being followed with Ferrari having promised much in Singapore but in the final standings were surprisingly ordinary. Franco Colapinto was expected to continue his astonishing introduction into F1 and the young Argentinian did not fail expectations.
Red Bull more driver changes
In Sprint qualifying Colapinto was an impressive tenth while his team mate Alex Albon failed to make it out of SQ1. The young Williams driver came back to earth with a bump in Grand Prix qualifying where neither he nor Alex Albon made it into Q2.
In Red Bull land, yet another mid-season driver change had been enforced as Yuki Tsunoda encountered his with change of team mates in less than for years with the Red Bull junior squad. Sprint qualifying and the race itself went as expected with Tsunoda ahead of his team mate at the end of both sessions.
Lawson was then to take a raft of new power unit components for the Grand Prix and his 60 place grid drop meant he was to start at the back of the grid, ahead only George Russell who started from the pit lane.
The V-CARB new kid elected to attempt a one stop race but was required to persuade the team this indeed was the way to go. As it transpired, one stop strategies were deployed up and down the field made possible by the new resurface COTA had undertaken.
Yuki ‘red mist’ returns
When Lawson appeared ahead of Tsunoda who had made two stops by lap 35, the Japanese driver was incensed insisting on answers over team radio. “What the fuck!!! Tell me how this happened!?,” demanded Yuki.
The Japanese driver was then reminded by his engineer, he’d been given a five second penalty earlier in the race for running Alex Albon off track.
Dr. Helmut Marko who runs the Red Bull junior driver programme has made it clear that to the end of the year, Lawson and Tsunoda are being “evaluated”, presumably for a drive alongside Max Verstappen.
Neither Red Bull nor Sergio Perez have made it public knowledge that the Mexican will be leaving at the end of the season, although the paddock mood music believes this unanimously to be the case. In fact Checo made it clear on his social media he’s not considering quitting F1 by use of The Wolff of Wall Street clip about “I’m not leaving” in response to rumours hell announce his retirement at this weekends Mexican Grand Prix.
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Button calls on Red Bull to act
The writing is clearly on the wall for Checo given the entire Sky F1 team appear to think his time at Red Bull is done. The 2009 F1 world champion Jenson Button was candid when sharing his thoughts that Red Bull cannot continue with Perez given this year’s form.
“Last year if he was half a second off Max, he was fine,” said Button to Sky F1. “The car was so quick it would still be on the podium. Now he’s P8.
“So it’s a big issue for the team and this could cost them the Constructors’ Championship, so they really do have to think about it. You look at VCARB, the drivers are in and out if they’re not performing, whereas it seems at Red Bull that’s not the case,” Button mused.
Co-presenter Danica Patrick believes there are ‘commercial reasons’ why Red Bull have yet to pull the plug on Checo but that when push comes to shove even his large Mexican sponsorship cannot save the career of Sergio Perez.
Perez just 47 points in 13 race weekends
“I would imagine they’re starting to think about that, maybe even Checo is,” she said. “He can’t be having a blast out there and I’m sure he’s getting sick of defending himself.
“I think that especially being Red Bull, where we know that it’s the performance that’s most important. We know that Red Bull is extremely hard on their drivers for performance, but there’s also the business side, so you have to take all those things into account.
While Red Bull’s junior team has been switching drivers regularly since the departure of Pierre Gasly to Alpine, Red Bull have remained steadfastly behind Checo despite his annual slumps in form. This year though the fact that Sergio is eight amongst the drivers from the top four teams means Red Bull know beyond all doubt, their driver pairing is not as good as McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes.
Perez is the only driver from the top four teams not to have won a Grand Prix in 2024. His last podium came in April, way back at the Chinese Grand Prix and over the last thirteen rounds, his contribution to the teams efforts have seen Checo deliver just 47 points.
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Marko admits Tsunoda in with a shout
One of the reasons Sergio has survived for so long is there being no obvious replacement for the Mexican in the Red Bull junior team. Now with Ricciardo out of the picture who was favourite to be promoted alongside Max Verstappen its clearly a two horse race between Lawson and Tsunoda for the 2025 Red Bull drive.
It appears for the first time that Tsunoda is now a serious contender for the Red Bull seat given Dr. Marko’s comments after the Austin race. When faced with the prospect of choosing the next team mate for Max Verstappen, Marko was coy but revealed Tsunoda is in with a shout.
“Let’s see, but he has to improve his performance,” said the Red Bull Austrian advisor who in the same briefing described Liam Lawson as a “man for the future” after his stela points finish at the USGP.
Round one of six has gone to Liam Lawson, but with circuits coming he has never driven in an F1 car, Tsunoda has in front of him a genuine opportunity to progress.
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Tensions continue to rise in Formula One as McLaren CEO Zak Brown escalates his calls for Red Bull Racing to face consequences. The controversy revolves around an alleged feature on Red Bull’s RB20 car that allegedly breaches the sport’s strict regulations.
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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.
