Despite starting the year off brilliantly, Sergio Perez saw a downward spiral in his 2023 F1 season. He was no match to Max Verstappen, who claimed two wins to Verstappen’s 19 even though the Mexican was driving the same Red Bull RB19. This enabled numerous criticisms hurled at the 33-year-old. Now, Tom Coronel, a renowned Dutch racer came out to support the criticism directed towards Perez.
Red Bull has been facing the issue with their second driver for quite some time now. After Daniel Ricciardo left the team at the end of the 2018 F1 season, things were not the same for the Austrian team who constantly felt the weaknesses with their second driver.
While Verstappen ripped the opposition apart, it was not the same from the other side where Pierre Gasly, Alex Albon and now Sergio Perez suffered constantly. Even though Perez showed sparks of performance midway, they were far from being consistent.
As the trouble with Red Bull‘s second driver at times makes the team crippled, he also has a solution in his hand. Speaking about this, Coronel said in an exclusive interview with RacingNews365, “I don’t think Lando Norris will break. They have known each other for years and grew up with each other in karts. Moreover, they give each other the ball.”
However, he also mentioned the problem Norris would face in facing Verstappen in Red Bull. He added, “Let me put it this way: I don’t think it will happen. This is the best situation for Norris at McLaren, where he can peak and is kept sharp by Oscar Piastri. Norris is in his place there and McLaren will not let him go.”
Red Bull boss’ praise for Lando Norris and his potential to partner Max Verstappen
While Tom Coronel believes Lando Norris could be an option to tackle Max Verstappen in Red Bull, Christian Horner on the other hand, understands that the British driver might solve the second driver issue at the team.
Horner, who has been impressed by the McLaren driver’s talent shared that there is no shortage of interest from multiple sides for the second seat at Red Bull. However, the British boss also mentioned that the seat alongside Verstappen would only open up in 2025 because Perez had a contract with the defending champions till 2024.
“We started the year pretty terribly…but ended it pretty well.”@LandoNorris on being named British Competition Driver of the Year at the 2023 #AutosportAwards pic.twitter.com/jRpV8OZmgh
— Autosport (@autosport) December 3, 2023
As for the McLaren star, he also shared his interest in driving alongside Verstappen, ego regards the latter as a good friend. Despite this, there is an issue and that is Norris’ McLaren contract that sees the young Briton stay at Woking till 2025.
On this, the Red Bull boss said as per Si.com, “In ’25 we have one seat open and as you can imagine, there’s not a shortage of interest in that seat but it’s a long way away at the moment.” All in all, nothing is concrete so far, therefore, it will be interesting to see who Red Bull sees as a potential driver for 2025.
