FORMULA 1
Will Checo Perez’s stay in Red Bull next season?
Red Bull’s CEO Christian Horner pointed out that the Austrian team is actively looking for a replacement for Checo Perez, whose contract expires in 2024.
Sergio Perez has been a teammate to Max Verstappen for three years in the Red Bull Formula One team. Despite his impressive performance and currently holding the second position in the overall standings, there have been some speculations regarding Perez’s future in the team. The two most recent races of the 2023 Formula 1 season have been unfortunate for the Mexican Sergio ‘Checo’ Pérez. In Singapore, Red Bull’s poor performance only allowed it to reach eighth place. While in Japan, he abandoned after his own mistake and collision with Kevin Magnussen. These couple of poor finishes raised concerns among the team management.
In June, Christian Horner, the team principal of Red Bull, revealed that Daniel Ricciardo, a former driver for the team currently racing for Scuderia AlphaTauri, is targeting Perez’s seat in the team. Horner stated that Ricciardo is the “golden objective” to replace Perez a year and a half from now. However, Perez has already been confirmed as a driver for the team in the upcoming season.
Despite the team’s announcement, there are doubts about Perez’s future. His position is not entirely secure, and he may have to fight to keep his seat on the team beyond the following season.
“We are looking at many options. The first on the list are the drivers of Alfa Tauri, Tsunoda, Ricardo, and Lawson, but we are also following other drivers,” said Horner.
Lando Norris has been mentioned more and more recently as an option. “A great driver, a great personality, but it’s far from being realized. Now, being Max’s teammate is never going to be easy, and some drivers may be up for that challenge, some may not be. But, of course, as well as the drivers we have in-house, we keep an eye on the entire driver market”.
Numerous discussions have been about who will take the second driver position next season, which has put much pressure on Checo. This is especially true with only six races left in the current season. Checho’s primary goals are to maintain his second position in the general classification and to help Red Bull achieve their first one-two victory of the season.
The next race is in Qatar on October 8.