Finlay McSporran
Published: 14:38, 10th July 2024
While Redbull have arguably the best driver on the grid in Max Verstappen, their second driver Sergio Perez has failed to meet the teams expectations.
Perez had another weekend to forget at Silverstone as he was knocked out in Q1 and finished 2 laps behind Verstappen who was fighting for the race win while Perez was at the back fighting over last place.
This has been a recurring problem for the Mexican driver, with him being outqualified by Logan Sargeant in 7 times so far this season, and has scored less points in the last 6 races than Haas driver Nico Hulkenberg has in the last 2!
These statistics show just how off the pace Perez has been in recent races, and while he could get away with it last year due to the Redbull being so dominant that’s not been the case this season, and with the chasing pack closing in there is a very real chance that they could lose out on the constructors title and the millions of dollars prize money that comes with it due to Perez lack of performance.
Perez has a contact to race with Redbull for 2025 however if his performances don’t improve the Redbull might feel the need to let him go as early as the summer break.
The driver most likely to take his seat is Daniel Riccardo, the Australian currently drives for Redbull’s sister team VCARB and it’s widely believed that the only reason he’s in that seat is to be a replacement for Perez at Redbull should his performances dip, like they are now. However Riccardo has struggled this season, being beaten by teammate Yuki Tsunoda most races and while he’s had a few good performances such as his P4 finish in the Miami sprint race, he’s failed to perform at this level consistently, with an average finishing position of 12.6 compared to Tsunoda’s 10.6.
Redbull don’t seem to be interested in Tsunoda for reasons that still aren’t really known. Whatever the reason is however it’s certainly nothing to do with his on track performances which have been excellent so far, earning him a seat at VCARB next season.
Liam Lawson is widely expected to be joining Tsunoda at the team next year having impressed during his 5 race stint with them in 2023. This leaves Riccardo with no seat for 2025, unless Perez continues to struggle at Redbull and Riccardo takes his seat, but there’s no guarantee that he’ll be any better than Perez, leaving Redbull with a tough choice to make.
Just to make things even more difficult for them, Redbull has lots of young talent coming through the junior series who could also be in the running for a seat at VCARB. For example Isack Hajar, the Frenchman is currently leading the F2 standings having won the feature race at Silverstone last week, where he also sat in for Perez in the Redbull during FP1.
Another driver who has impressed this year is Arvid Lindblad. The 16 year old recently became the first driver to complete the double in F3, winning both the sprint and feature race on home soil at Silverstone last weekend, moving him up to 2nd in the standings as the top rookie.
The good news for Redbull is that they have probably the best driver on the grid right now in Max Verstappen, however they might not have him for very long, as there is still a lot of conflict in Redbull between team boss Christian Horner and Verstappens Dad’s Jos, meaning that there is a very slim but still possible chance that Verstappen decides to leave Redbull for another team, probably Mercedes, especially now that they’re a lot closer to Redbull on pure pace.
There are also other factors that could influence this decision such as Adrian Newey’s departure from the team and the upcoming 2026 regulations which will see Redbull develop their own power units. A big risk for the team which could see them drop down the order.
It looks like the cracks are starting to form at F1’s top team, with senior figures like Newey leaving and the chasing pack closing in, we are likely witnessing the end of Redbull’s domination, as teams such as McLaren and Mercedes look to have the edge on Redbull which might push Max to leave the team before his contract expires in 2028.
If this does happen, then it leaves the team extremely Vulnerable when it comes to their drivers as Riccardo and Perez don’t exactly seem like title contenders, and with young drivers like Lawson, Hajar and Lindblad waiting for an F1 seat, Redbull need to make a decision soon to ensure they have the right driver line-up going into the new regulations in 2026.
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