Red Bull Are "Keeping Options Open" For Sergio Perez’s Successor
A lot of chatter has picked up recently regarding Sergio Perez and his future at Red Bull. This follows his poor qualifying and race form over the last 3 races after having started the season in a strong manner. While it hasn’t affected Red Bull a lot in the championship because of how dominant Max Verstappen has been, there are those who feel that if the field closes up to Red Bull next year, Checo could end up being a liability
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I'm your host Dillon Shelley and first up on Formula World:
Red Bull Thinking About Sergio Perez’s Successor
Current reserve driver Daniel Ricciardo is scheduled to take part in a tire test for Pirelli at Silverstone
Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko, while speaking to ORF Sport, revealed that this test will be used to assess Daniel
“We will have Daniel Ricciardo in the car for three days after Silverstone at the Pirelli tire tests”
“There we will assess his level and where he is really at”
Some feel that this is an indication that Red Bull are at least thinking about Daniel as a possible alternative to Checo
Marko then turned his attention to Sergio Perez and his future
“His initial goal was to stay for two or three years”
“[Staying beyond his current contract] would be more than he planned”
“So we just have to keep the options open to decide who will be his successor”
The British GP in a couple of week’s time could very well be a litmus test for both Checo and Daniel
Checo’s case isn’t exactly being helped by Max’s domination
Additionally, Max Verstappen made a few interesting observations in Canada after Checo had failed to get into Q3 again
“Well, if I hadn’t been there it would have looked very different for Red Bull”
“I wouldn’t be happy with not making Q3 three times in a row”
“I’m not concerned about it either. I’m busy enough on my side of the garage getting everything in order”
At least one saving grace for Checo is that he stepped up at the only two races this year where Max wasn’t on top of his game
Add in the fact that despite Yuki Tsunoda having consistently gotten the better of his rookie teammate Nyck de Vries, neither AlphaTauri driver is currently setting the world alight and Red Bull’s options begin to look quite limited
If Daniel Ricciardo fails to impress during the tyre tests, Red Bull seemingly will be left with just a couple of options
The first is to continue with Checo. He is a known quantity and on his day, he can get the job done
He also has an amicable relationship with Max Verstappen and Red Bull would be wary to upset the team harmony
The second option would be to poach someone from another team. While a seat at Red Bull would be highly attractive, likely until 2026 for any driver, the same problem remains – Would Red Bull really want to bring in someone who could rock the boat with Max?
If Daniel is quick then that presents Red Bull with a problem of plenty. Either way, for now it seems as if Checo’s future is still in his hands and he still has plenty of races to redeem himself
What do you think? Should Red Bull stick with Checo Perez in 2024?