Star Red Bull driver Sergio Perez has come under severe pressure recently because of his continuous underperformance. Red Bull lost out on valuable points and found themselves in tricky positions, because of Perez’s failure to get into Q3 in the last four outings. And as Perez’s struggles continue, many believe that Red Bull reserve driver Daniel Ricciardo is in line to replace him, before his contract ends.
However, 1996 F1 champion Damon Hill believes the Milton Keynes-based outfit has better options than Ricciardo. Hill believes that if Red Bull is looking for a replacement, they are likely to consider Lando Norris over Ricciardo.
Why does Damon Hill rate Lando Norris higher than Daniel Ricciardo?
Damon Hill is increasingly concerned about Sergio Perez’s position in Red Bull as he believes that the Mexican is doing injustice to the team because of his underwhelming performances. In a conversation with The Independent, the 62-year-old explained how Red Bull cannot have such a good car, and have just one of their two drivers perform.
Hill believes that if Perez cannot rediscover his form, then he will need to look over his shoulder. And when it comes to who could replace the 33-year-old, Hill has chose Lando Norris over Daniel Ricciardo. This comes despite the Australian having expressed his keenness to end his career at Red Bull.
“I was actually quite scared to come back after my incident with Lando last year…” 😅
Daniel Ricciardo explains why Red Bull can’t join us on the F1 Show! ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/s3aqmwiLOM
— Sky Sports F1 (@SkySportsF1) July 6, 2023
Speaking of the same, Hill said, “Is Daniel Ricciardo fit enough to come back? That’s what the noises are. Maybe that plan is simmering away. I think they’d want a fresh face. Possibly Lando [Norris]“. Hill believes that Red Bull could consider a move for Norris because of the young Briton’s outstanding performances with McLaren.
The 23-year-old not only outperformed Ricciardo for two seasons during their time together at McLaren but is continuing to showcase his strong performances this year. Norris is currently tenth in the championship with 24 points and is 19 points clear of his current McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri.
Red Bull have previously also attempted to sign Norris
Even though McLaren have successfully tied Lando Norris to a long term deal, there was a time when Red Bull also attempted to sign the Bristol-born driver. In a conversation with Sport24 auto, Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko explained why their attempt to sign the 23-year-old failed.
“We’ve had talks with him, but he’s tied to McLaren for the long term,” explained Marko (as quoted by planetf1.com). Even though the 80-year-old rates Norris very highly, he still believes that reigning two-time world champion Max Verstappen has the edge over him.
Lando Norris:
“I get you have Red Bull and you have Max dominating. But it’s kind of almost always been one team that dominates it in a way. It used to be McLaren for a bit, then it was Ferrari for a bit, then it was I was obviously Mercedes. And now it’s Red Bull.”#BritishGP pic.twitter.com/2g876QJvA8
— Verstappen News (@verstappenews) July 7, 2023
After Norris chose to stay at McLaren, Dutch pundit Tom Coronel in a conversation with Formule 1 Magazine (as quoted by express.co.uk) in the Netherlands explained why he believes that the Briton made the right choice.
Coronel believes that had Norris chosen to move to Red Bull, then the 23-year-old would have suffered the same fate that his predecessors. Coronel believes that whenever a driver moves into a team alongside Verstappen, then their “career just stops“.
