The personnel situation at both Red Bull teams for next season continues to intrigue the press, because if Red Bull Racing decides to say goodbye to Sergio Perez, two vacancies will arise at once. One of the Visa RB drivers will be Max Verstappen’s new teammate – most likely Liam Lawson – and the second question is who will drive the Faenza team’s second car.
After the Qatar Grand Prix, Christian Horner hinted that they were not interested in Franco Colapinto. According to the head of Red Bull Racing, the young Argentinian driver “will find his way to the starting field in the future.”
“Of course he has talent and deserves a permanent place in Formula 1,” RacingNews365 quotes Horner. – But there are also many talented riders in our youth program. We always keep an eye on what is happening on the pilot market and pay attention to all teams. But the participants in our youth program distinguish themselves through high-quality vocational training.
It is also nice to see that Isaac Hajjar is carrying out his duties in Formula 2 well. In my opinion, only 0.5 points separate him from Gabriel Bortoleto for the final stage in Abu Dhabi. If we talk about RB drivers, Liam and Yuki Tsunoda were very close in terms of pace in Qatar. In general we have enough riders.”
Although Sergio Perez continues to insist that he will remain Verstappen’s partner in 2025, when asked about the Mexican’s future, Horner gave a very streamlined answer: “After Abu Dhabi we will weigh all options and we will have to decide what to do . with Sergio.”
According to The Race, Red Bull is already thinking about how best to arrange his departure from the team, so that Lawson becomes Verstappen’s partner next season.
Even with all the shortcomings of the RB20 car, which result in handling problems, it is difficult to explain why Perez loses so much to a four-time world champion who continues to climb the podium and win races. At the same time, Sergio dropped out of contention more than once in qualifying after the first session.
Perez’s poor performance saw the team miss out on the Constructors’ Championship, despite Max winning the title again. Apparently, Red Bull has long been trying to force the Mexican into a voluntary decision to leave – this could allow the team to avoid paying a multi-million dollar fine. But Sergio could have maintained normal business relations with the Austrian company.
In Qatar, Horner even openly hinted: “No one is forcing Sergio to make this or that decision, but it would be better for him to draw his own conclusions.”
And yet, as The Race writes, “Perec is unlikely to be willing to give up without a fight as he has to somehow sort out his life after Formula 1. Moreover, as he often emphasized, he has a contract.”
He is well aware of what is happening, but obviously expects a large compensation if things take an undesirable turn for him.
“He is mature enough and wise enough to understand the situation he is in,” Horner added.
In any case, Red Bull will have to find a reasonable way out of this situation, the added complexity of which is that it is already the end of the year. It is worth adding that when and if a certain solution is found that somehow suits all parties, the second place in RB will go to Isaac Hajjar. The 20-year-old Frenchman remains a good chance of winning the Formula 2 title, so it was no coincidence that Horner mentioned him.
Source: F1 News
I am Christopher Clyde, an experienced journalist and content writer with a passion for sports. I have been writing about Formula 1 news for the past five years and am currently employed as an author at athletistic.com, one of the top sports websites in the US.
