Sergio Perez’s Red Bull seat has suddenly come under threat despite his recent two-year contract extension. The Mexican’s performance has been quite dismal ever since the Miami GP weekend, with zero podiums or top-five finishes. There were reports that Liam Lawson was in line to replace him for a shock mid-season swap, with the Kiwi driver doing a filming run for Red Bull in the RB20 at Silverstone. However, per reports from F1 journalist Thomas Maher, Lawson’s test run has not gone well.
Per an opinion piece on Planet F1, Maher stated, “My understanding is that Lawson’s filming day times slightly underwhelmed Red Bull – his quickest benchmark time being two-tenths off the time earmarked as Verstappen’s benchmark from the weekend.”
Thomas Maher: “My understanding is that Lawson’s filming day times slightly underwhelmed Red Bull – his quickest benchmark time being two-tenths off the time earmarked as Verstappen’s benchmark from the weekend.”
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Maher further added how Lawson’s chances of replacing Perez mid-season depend on the Mexican’s performances in the remaining two races before the summer break. A year ago, Daniel Ricciardo also did a similar test run in the RB19 at Silverstone.
Since Ricciardo managed to impress the Red Bull bosses, he earned his comeback with AlphaTauri (now V-CARB). However, Ricciardo’s lap times in the RB19 were quite close to that of Verstappen’s times at the 2023 British GP.
That hasn’t been the case with Lawson. Previously, many speculated that Lawson getting this test run was an indication that he has preference over Ricciardo to be a viable replacement for Perez.
However, this underwhelming test run may hand the advantage back to the Australian driver. Ricciardo has been itching to make a return to Red Bull ever since his sacking from McLaren. While Perez’s underperformance and his return to V-CARB were setting up well for his fairytale ending, things haven’t gone to plan for the Honey Badger either.
Ricciardo is not making a strong claim for replacing Perez at Red Bull
Ricciardo expected to have a smooth-sailing 2024 season to cement his candidature for a 2025 Red Bull seat. However, the way his season has panned out so far, the 35-year-old is also struggling to retain his V-CARB seat.
Relative to his teammate Yuki Tsunoda, Ricciardo has struggled massively to score points consistently. He had some brief moments of glory in Miami and Canada. However, besides those weekends, the Australian driver has not made a convincing argument on why Red Bull should promote him.
Martin Brundle can’t see Daniel Ricciardo taking Sergio Perez’s Red Bull seat… #F1 #DanielRicciardo #RedBullRacing pic.twitter.com/UEXgHRc62P
— PlanetF1 (@Planet_F1) July 10, 2024
Despite having a chassis change in China, Ricciardo could only score points in the Miami GP sprint and again withered away until the Canadian GP. After an ugly verbal tussle with former champion Jacques Villeneuve, Ricciardo proved why he still belongs in F1 by qualifying in P5 and finishing P8 in the Canadian Grand Prix. Regardless, besides these two performances, the eight-time Grand Prix winner doesn’t have much to boast about his season.
Ricciardo currently is 13th in the drivers’ standings with 11 points, nine behind Tsunoda, who is in 12th. With the kind of performances Ricciardo has put in, it seems far-fetched that Red Bull would seriously consider him to replace Perez.
