Last Updated on January 5 2025, 1:13 pm

Sergio Perez became the laughing stock in the Formula One paddock in 2024. In fact amusement turned to embarrassment as senior F1 media folk questioned how much more the Mexican could take of the negative publicity surrounding him as he limped home in last at his final home grand prix in Mexico.

The team explained their decision to retain Checo following the summer break being due to the fact that some of his favourite circuits were coming up. Previous wins in Singapore and Baku had proven Perez to be something of a street circuit expert, yet his dismal 21 points across the final ten race weekends saw the end of season review of Red Bull’s driver pairing decide enough was enough.

Liam Lawson now has the admirable task of partnering Max Verstappen for the coming F1 campaign and team advisor Dr. Helmet Marko has already set the young driver’s targets – to be within three tenths of his team mate in qualifying and during the race.

 

 

 

Red Bull a “one car team”

Red Bull were in effect a one car team with Perez last finishing on the podium back during the season opening flyway races, at the Chinese Grand Prix in April. Despite the heroic efforts of Max Verstappen, the lack of Perez’s contribution to the team’s total points tally saw the world champions slip from first to third in the pecking order.

McLaren with less Grand Prix victories than Red Bull won the constructors’ title due to the more consistent scoring of their driver pairing, with the result they won the team championship for the first time since 1998.

Gary Anderson, ex-F1 car designer and F1 technical guru believes another of the teams in 2025 will suffer the same fate as Red Bull did last year. In effect the team will be a ‘one car’ operation according to the former technical director, as doubts remain over the driver they have just signed.

The 2024 season began with an F1 first as all the teams all retained the same driver lineups they finished with in 2023. Yet before a wheel turned in anger, Lewis Hamilton fired the starting gun on what was to become one of the most volatile F1 driver market in recent memory.

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Alpine gamble on a rookie

Ferrari, Mercedes, Red Bull, Alpine, the Racing Bulls, Haas F1, Williams and Sauber have all seen changes in their driver parings, with only McLaren and Aston Martin retaining the pair from last year.

Yet the ex-Jordan and Jaguar technical director Gary Anderson fears one of the racing outfits in 2025 will be another “once car team.” Alpine decided to part company with experienced driver and Grand Prix winner Esteban Ocon, after the then team principal slated him liven French TV following Ocon rear ending his team mate on the red flagged opening lap of the Monaco Grand Prix.

They’ve retained Pierre Gasly and promoted academy driver Jack Doohan alongside the Frenchman who Anderson believes will struggle in Formula One. Doohan made a full Grand Prix weekend debut for Alpine at the 2024 season finale in Abu Dhabi.

Alpine dropped Ocon for the final event of last year in the hope the experience for Doohan would give him a head start before the pressure of the 2025 season opener at his home event in Melbourne. The Aussie qualified plumb last but recovered to P15 at the chequered flag, that said only Kevin Magnussen was classified behind Doohan given there were four DNF’s.

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“Doohan.. not the standard of Antonelli”

Meanwhile the all improved Alpine towards the end of the year in the hands of Pierre Gasly, made it to seventh in the final standings in Abu Dhabi, revealing the gulf between the French team’s two drivers.

Anderson questions the value Doohan will bring to Alpine, whose car showed significant improvement over the closing stages of the 2024 campaign. When compared to Kimi Antonelli who is replacing Hamilton at Mercedes, Anderson feels the Aussie is not at the same ”level.”

“I fear Alpine will struggle as a one-car team for a fair amount of the season,” Anderson tells The Race “Rookie Jack Doohan is ok but I don’t think he is at the ‘Antonelli’ level.

“Gasly and the car came of age at the end of 2024. So, if they can continue that upward slope, he will be scoring big points and knocking on the door of the podium occasionally. But I wouldn’t expect it every race weekend,” Anderson concludes.

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Paltry junior formula results

Alpine have been grooming Doohan this season with the Aussie attending each of the twenty four rounds in the longest ever F1 season. Yet his pedigree is questionable given he has no junior titles to his name, unlike Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto and Oscar Piastri before him.

Doohan finished second in the 2019/20 F3 Asian series and also in the 2021 FIA F3 international category. His best season in F2 saw Doohan finish in third place behind winer Theo Pourchaire and Frederik Vesti – neither of who have the remotest of hopes of a seat in Formula One. 

Confidence in Jack Doohan appears to be low from the Alpine executive consultant, Flavio Briatore, who is believed to have leaked the fact that Doohan has a contract to drive for the team, but only guaranteed for the first five outings of 2025.

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Briatore asserts mid-season driver change possible

Briatore has made no secret of the fact he is interest in Franco Colapinto and that he has no fear of switching the Alpine driver lineup mid-season if necessary. 

Speaking to La Parisienne the week before Christmas, Briatore was asked whether he thought Doohan would complete the 2025 season driving for Alpine. “I have to help the team reach a situation where it can achieve results. The driver is the one who has to finish the work of the almost one thousand people behind him. Everyone works for just two people. And if there is a driver who is not making progress, who is not bringing results, he will be changed,” Briatore concluded.

‘Doing a Perez’ received a new interpretation in 2024, as the Mexican driver once famed for his tyre whispering became known for something more tragic. With Verstappen claiming 437 of the team’s 589 points this was the worst contribution from Checo in the history of the Red Bull Racing team.

Doohan will fear becoming the next Perez, as will Alpine. Hardly the basis to begin a successful relationship.

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Leclerc stripped of testing mileage for Hamilton

Roll the calendar back a year and Lewis Hamilton together with his Mercedes team were looking to their Formula One future with a tiny new agreement signed between the pair. Yet the reality was quite different.

The mood music emanating from Maranello via the Italian press had Ferrari team boss on record stating he was happy with his current driver lineup of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz. Come the turn of the New Year, Fred Vasseur had admitted the team intended to have both contract extensions resolved already.

“I have to admit the last part of the season was a big chaos for everybody and I think it was very demanding and we had meetings and started the discussion, but we are late compared to the initial plan,” said the boss of the Scuderia…. READ MORE