Red Bull and Max Verstappen came into the 2024 season as the favorites to defend both championships. While Max Verstappen still has a healthy lead in the drivers’ championship, the same can’t be said about the constructors’ championship due to Sergio Perez’s poor run of form. As a result, the speculations on whether Red Bull should replace Perez with Daniel Ricciardo are at an all-time high.
Helmut Marko had already hinted that they would assess the Mexican driver’s performance in Hungary and Belgium before the summer break, to take a call on whether they should replace him or not. But, the 34-year-old once again crashed out of Q1 on Saturday and ended up P16 on the grid.
| Sergio Perez is in danger of losing his seat at Red Bull.
If Ricciardo can confirm the recent upward trend at Silverstone, Budapest and Spa and Perez does not improve significantly, Daniel could replace the Mexican in 2025.
“We’ll know more by the summer break,” says… pic.twitter.com/BMVWV3K9CO
— Fastest Pitstop (@FastestPitStop) July 5, 2024
Perez did run a decent race to recover with a P7 finish on Sunday, especially on a track where overtaking is not that easy. However, he could have done better with his qualifying on a weekend when Verstappen was struggling to find his rhythm. It was a golden chance for Perez to show the team that he can still be a reliable number-two driver.
Despite his recovery drive in Budapest, the Mexican missed out on the top five once again, which has been the norm after the Miami GP. Now, these low-scoring performances are starting to hurt Red Bull as their lead in the constructors’ standings is reducing fast with McLaren scoring good results week in and week out.
Meanwhile, Ricciardo is suffering from his own issues at V-CARB. While the Aussie scored points in Canada and Austria, the last two races in Britain and Hungary have once again shed light on his inconsistency.
Riccirdo’s inconsistency is not helping his case to get the Red Bull seat
Up until the Grand Prix on Sunday, Ricciardo was having a great weekend in Hungary. He was the only driver in the Red Bull family other than Verstappen who did not crash under tricky and changing dry-wet qualifying conditions.
The Honey Badger maintained his composure even after Yuki Tsunoda crashed out in Q3 with just two minutes left on the clock, and improved on his lap time to outqualify his Japanese teammate. However, an early pit stop for Ricciardo on Sunday meant that he got stuck behind slower cars, and lost the opportunity to score any points for V-CARB.
Tsunoda, on the other hand, scored points yet again despite his horrifying crash on Saturday by pulling off a one-stop strategy. While it was the team’s fault with the strategy that cost Ricciardo in Hungary, he has not been able to deliver performances like Tsunoda at other races.
“Unfortunately, we got it wrong with Daniel and pitted him too early in heavy traffic, which lost him a chance to fight for points. His pace had been extremely strong all weekend long. We go into Spa with the positives of our strong weekend here” – Laurent Mekies, Team Principal pic.twitter.com/dDEKIfEbCo
— Visa Cash App RB F1 Team (@visacashapprb) July 22, 2024
It’s this inconsistency of not being able to score points regularly that is not convincing Red Bull to put Ricciardo alongside the defending champion. Now, Red Bull may look to maintain their driver lineup as it is, if Perez can produce a good showing in Belgium to save his seat.
What’s in Ricciardo’s favor is the fact that he’s been alongside Verstappen in the past and done well too. So, even if he might not be a long-term option for Red Bull, they could still put the Aussie in that second seat, hoping that he could help the team retain the constructors’ title in 2024.
