Star Red Bull driver Sergio Perez has had a torrid run recently as he has been far off the pace as compared to teammate Max Verstappen. The Mexican has blamed the “poor pace” of Red Bull as the reason for his recent underperformance.
Recently, Perez has had a terrible run, failing to qualify for Q3 in the last three races and falling significantly behind Verstappen in the World Championship. As Perez continues to lose ground in the championship, there are talks that Red Bull reserve driver Daniel Ricciardo may replace him.
The Australian returned to Red Bull in 2023 as their reserve driver after a disastrous spell with McLaren. Since returning to the Milton Keynes outfit Ricciardo has been working extremely hard behind the scenes to get himself ready to get back into F1. The 33-year-old has made it clear that he will be on the lookout for opportunities next season.
Hence, if Perez continues to perform as he is, there is a high likelihood that Red Bull could consider replacing him with Ricciardo. The Mexican’s underperformance is evident as Verstappen has been flying in the other Red Bull car.
“We just didn’t have the pace“: Sergio Perez on his struggles
After two disappointing performances in Monaco and Spain, Sergio Perez struggled once again in Canada this past weekend. The Mexican qualified a disastrous 12th before he pulled off a decent recovery drive to finish sixth in the main race.
After yet another mediocre performance, Perez revealed that he is concerned about Red Bull’s performance. While speaking after the race (as quoted by gpfans.com), the 33-year-old said, “Today was a bit of a surprise. We just didn’t have the pace“.
Tough weekend. We couldn’t find the pace in both qualifying and the race. We’re going to work extremely hard to turn this around. We know we can do it, and we’ll come back very strong.
Congratulations to Max on helping today @redbullracing to reach the 100th win
Duro fin de… pic.twitter.com/DTddQ7nTdi
— Sergio Pérez (@SChecoPerez) June 18, 2023
Despite having the pressure of the championship fight, the Mexican stated that he is more concerned about his recent dip in form than his staggering 69-point gap to Max Verstappen. After making this point, he then concluded his remarks by adding, “It is important we take time to understand the weekend because this race, in particular, has been poor in pace and we need to get on top of it“.
Since Perez’s form has dipped considerably in the past three races, several rumors have emerged that Daniel Ricciardo could potentially replace the Mexican if he does not rediscover his form. However, it is pertinent to note that Ricciardo himself has stated that he has no interest in replacing Perez this season.
Daniel Ricciardo is keen on making a return to F1 but not this year
Even though Daniel Ricciardo has publicly stated on various occasions about his keenness to return to the grid as soon as possible, he did state that he is happy with his reserve driver role for the moment. While speaking to Sky Sports News, the Australian made it clear that he is not thinking about replacing Sergio Perez this season.
He explained that he really wants to have “the time off” and that he is in no rush to get back to racing this season. In the same interview, he revealed that he is fully focused on working on the simulator for this year and giving any tips and advice he can to Perez and Verstappen. Irrespective of whether Ricciardo wants a drive this season or not, it is fair to say that the pressure is increasing on Perez following multiple disappointing performances.
As the Mexican continues to underperform, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has just one advice for him and that is to forget thinking about the world championship. Horner wants Perez to just “drive” and focus on the next race rather than look too far ahead.
