Photo: Twitter / Oracle Red Bull Racing
Red Bull is a team that's quite famous, or rather infamous, for not tolerating failure of any kind. That attitude towards its drivers now puts Sergio Perez on the chopping block, as the team fired a warning shot by having Daniel Ricciardo drive for the three-day Pirelli tire test after Silverstone.
Some people could see this as unfair treatment towards Checo, arguably with some reason behind that claim. The Mexican driver has been instrumental in helping his teammate Max Verstappen secure the driver's championship back in 2021. And in 2022, he put in a solid drive throughout the season, although he also caused a bit of friction within the team.
But this season has panned out to be relatively disappointing for Perez, who is 69 points behind Verstappen and quickly falling within the clutches of Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton. This level of performance is hard to justify considering how much faster the RB19 has been compared to the rest of the grid.
Granted, Sergio Perez is not inside the RB19 to contest Max Verstappen in the fight for the championship. However, there's an expectation from the team that Perez would be consistently picking up points and rise to the top when Max encounters technical issues. And arguably, he did that to some extent, but not nearly well enough to justify holding a seat coveted by a fair few great drivers.
As a result of this fall from grace, Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko issued what could be considered a veiled threat. He stated that Checo's contract has already reached the initial expectations of two to three years. This potentially hints that an extension is unlikely and that even if it happens, it would still be another one-year deal, as is customary for Red Bull's second driver.
This rings especially true when you consider the rest of the statement, where Marko says the team has to keep its options open for a potential replacement. Using the words "has to" is relatively strong, more so considering the events that happened in both Monaco and Brazil last season. Add Ricciardo's three-day tire test to the mix, supposedly meant to assess his performance, and you get quite the fire stoked beneath Checo's seat.
Even so, Sergio's position within the team seems safe, at least until the end of the season, due to Red Bull and Max being almost certain to win both championships this year. However, Red Bull is known to take drastic action when a cog in its F1 machine is not working properly. And Ricciardo could be a great option, seeing as he's proven himself in the sport and is eager to get back on the grid next year, especially at his so-called home team.
But even if Daniel Ricciardo's performance does not put him in contention for Checo's seat, Red Bull has a great pool of drivers to choose from, both on the F1 grid and in junior categories. So, Perez has to show some good improvement if he wants to secure an extension. That's something that could prove challenging over the following races, as Austria and Silverstone were a bit tough on Red Bull in 2022, and driver performance is crucial to getting a good result.
But this season has panned out to be relatively disappointing for Perez, who is 69 points behind Verstappen and quickly falling within the clutches of Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton. This level of performance is hard to justify considering how much faster the RB19 has been compared to the rest of the grid.
Granted, Sergio Perez is not inside the RB19 to contest Max Verstappen in the fight for the championship. However, there's an expectation from the team that Perez would be consistently picking up points and rise to the top when Max encounters technical issues. And arguably, he did that to some extent, but not nearly well enough to justify holding a seat coveted by a fair few great drivers.
As a result of this fall from grace, Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko issued what could be considered a veiled threat. He stated that Checo's contract has already reached the initial expectations of two to three years. This potentially hints that an extension is unlikely and that even if it happens, it would still be another one-year deal, as is customary for Red Bull's second driver.
This rings especially true when you consider the rest of the statement, where Marko says the team has to keep its options open for a potential replacement. Using the words "has to" is relatively strong, more so considering the events that happened in both Monaco and Brazil last season. Add Ricciardo's three-day tire test to the mix, supposedly meant to assess his performance, and you get quite the fire stoked beneath Checo's seat.
Even so, Sergio's position within the team seems safe, at least until the end of the season, due to Red Bull and Max being almost certain to win both championships this year. However, Red Bull is known to take drastic action when a cog in its F1 machine is not working properly. And Ricciardo could be a great option, seeing as he's proven himself in the sport and is eager to get back on the grid next year, especially at his so-called home team.
But even if Daniel Ricciardo's performance does not put him in contention for Checo's seat, Red Bull has a great pool of drivers to choose from, both on the F1 grid and in junior categories. So, Perez has to show some good improvement if he wants to secure an extension. That's something that could prove challenging over the following races, as Austria and Silverstone were a bit tough on Red Bull in 2022, and driver performance is crucial to getting a good result.
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