Red Bull’s ‘first option’ to replace Perez emerges as Horner confirms plan
Max Verstappen sent offer to quit Red Bull and join F1 rival keen to be his team-mate
Red Bull reportedly have Daniel Ricciardo as their ‘first option’ to replace Sergio Perez when the Mexican’s contract expires next season. Christian Horner has been left frustrated by his driver this season, who has struggled to match the results of Max Verstappen.
Dutchman Verstappen has dominated the championship with 13 wins from the opening 16 races and has finished off the podium just once. Despite having an equally dominant car, Perez has just eight podiums to his name and crashed out of last weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix.
Perez is one of 14 drivers whose contract will end at the conclusion of next season and a host of transfer activity is expected. The Formula 1 website have reported that Ricciardo is the chosen driver to replace Perez in the Red Bull seat from 2025.
They claimed that Red Bull’s ‘favoured driver’ to replace Perez if required either mid-season or at the end of the 2024 campaign, would be Ricciardo with Liam Lawson then set to be drafted in to replace the Australian at AlphaTauri.
Ricciardo was signed by Red Bull as a reserve driver after being sacked by McLaren last season. The Australian was then drafted into AlphaTauri and impressed during his first three races before breaking his hand at the Dutch Grand Prix. Ricciardo had his most successful years with Red Bull between 2014 and 2018 – winning seven races.
Perez is currently under pressure in the Drivers’ Championship with six races remaining as Lewis Hamilton sits just 33 points behind. Horner has set his Red Bull driver the target of seeing off the seven-time world champion and recording a one-two in the overall standings.
Red Bull team boss Christian Horner has refused to give assurances to Perez about his position at the team beyond his current contract. Confirming that Red Bull will assess other drivers next year, Horner said: “There are many pilots that you also have to pay attention to. There is a generation of drivers right now that has a huge amount of talent.
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“Now, being Max’s teammate will never be easy and some drivers may be up to that challenge, others may not. But of course, in addition to the pilots we have internally, we keep an eye on everyone. As you can imagine, there is quite a bit of interest from certain sectors in driving a Red Bull car.”
The Brit has however backed Perez to seal Red Bull history by coming second overall in the championship despite some questionable performances in recent weeks. Speaking to Sky Sports, the team boss said: “It’s something that we’ve never achieved; we’ve never finished first and second with any of our drivers in the world championship so it would be a big thing for us to achieve. He came close last year, it would be his best-ever result, and he’s got the best car that he’s ever had to be able to try and achieve that result.
“Japan was frustrating and difficult for him, but he’ll bounce back. I’m sure there’s enough races with the six grands prix remaining for him still to achieve some great results between now and the end of the season.”
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