Red Bull team principal Christian Horner is reportedly keen on signing Daniel Ricciardo as a replacement for Sergio Perez, but has still offered the Mexican driver a glimmer of hope.
Perez has faced intense scrutiny over the course of last year despite recording his best finish (P2) in the drivers’ standings. The fact that he started with two Grand Prix wins in the first four races signalled a change of fortunes for Checo, but he displayed inconsistency as the season wore on and was unable to add to his tally.
Max Verstappen, meanwhile, went from strength to strength and claimed an unprecedented 19 triumphs in 22 race weekends.
Meanwhile, Daniel Ricciardo, who was without a full-time role at the beginning of the season, saw an opportunity in the form of AlphaTauri after they decided to sack Nyck de Vries just 10 races into his introduction to F1.
Ricciardo did not exactly light up the stage on his return, but he is rumoured to be top of the ‘wish-list’ at Red Bull to replace Perez owing to his healthy camaraderie with Verstappen and experience of over a decade in F1.
What did Horner say?
Horner has now made it clear that while the pressure is on Perez to perform and get a contract extension, the seat is his to lose.
“It’s Checo’s [Perez] seat,” Horner said.
“He’s in the car because we believe he’s the right driver now.
“It’s down to him over the next nine months to demonstrate that we feel that way for 2025.
“Of course, we’ve got great talent in the pool with Daniel [Ricciardo], with Liam [Lawson], with Yuki [Tsunoda]. So time will tell.”
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