Daniel Ricciardo has had a good revival to his F1 career thanks to a comeback with AlphaTauri (now Visa Cash App RB). So much so, that many tout the Australian driver as one of the main contenders to replace the struggling Sergio Perez at Red Bull in 2025. However, Sky Sports pundit Karun Chandhok believes that Ricciardo has a lot to prove against his current teammate Yuki Tsunoda to be in contention for a seat at his former team. The former Indian driver feels that the eight-time race winner needs to be better than Tsunoda consistently or Red Bull may choose to retain Perez.
While speaking during FP1 of the Bahrain GP on Sky Sports F1 live, Chandhok said, “Unless Daniel consistently beats Tsunoda, I am not sure if they would necessarily swap him for Perez.” Chandhok highlighted that Yuki Tsunoda was “more than a match for Daniel last year”.
Therefore, it won’t be easy for the Honey Badger to outshine the Japanese driver. Despite Tsunoda being only 23 years old, he is incredibly quick and has settled well with the Faenza-based outfit.
However, Chandhok shed light on an underlying sentiment that Tsunoda may not be a top team material yet. While the Sky Sports expert doesn’t claim so himself, he feels this Perez vs. Ricciardo debate for 2025 in F1 forums assumes that Red Bull may overlook Tsunoda as an option.
That is certainly not the reality as both Tsunoda and Ricciardo are targeting Perez’s seat for next year. So, they will be determined to outperform each other at RB in 2024. However, if Perez manages to keep the seat, that would be disheartening for both drivers.
Will Red Bull want to part ways with Sergio Perez for Daniel Ricciardo?
Red Bull have always had a number 1 and number 2 driver system, even if they don’t admit so. Their driver lineup always has one driver who leads the team and his teammate becomes the support act. With Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez, the Milton Keynes team have once again got a similar dynamic with the Mexican driver as the Dutchman’s wingman.
Perez has performed his role as Verstappen’s wingman perfectly over the first two years of his Red Bull career. However, the 34-year-old had a falling out with Verstappen at the 2022 Brazilian GP over a team orders fiasco in his bid for P2 in the championship.
Since then, Perez was unable to find his consistent podium-contending form in 2023 despite winning two of the first four races. The #11 driver went on a slump since his Monaco qualifying crash. In this duration, the Dutchman won 10 consecutive races from the Miami GP onwards.
Coming into this season, Perez is driving to get another contract extension with Red Bull for 2025 and beyond. Despite his inconsistent form last year, Christian Horner and Co. understand the Mexican’s value as a perfect foil to the dominant Verstappen.
With Ricciardo or Tsunoda, the six-time Constructors’ Champions may not guarantee that kind of a dynamic. So, it may become a tricky situation for Red Bull if Perez struggles again while the V-CARB driver duo performs strongly.
