The future of Red Bull contracted drivers and what ‘Checo’ Perez’ continued presence means

September 26th, 2024 was a day of sadness and despair for many inside and outside of the Formula One paddock. We saw a man once regarded as a champion in waiting, Daniel Ricciardo, potentially say goodbye to his F1 career. So why has it come to this for the illustrious career Ricciardo represents?

The Sergio Perez dilemma Red Bull face

When Sergio was first brought to the team in 2021, following the axing of Alex Albon, it was a move that made sense, with their junior drivers staggering and failing to replace Ricciardo, who had already been gone for two seasons at this point, it by all appearances seemed a shrewd signing. He was someone who could finally, adequately provide backup to Max Verstappen – the way Mark Webber did Sebastian Vettel.

Year one it paid off, whilst he may have cost them the constructors championship by failing to beat Valtteri Bottas, he was able to provide key points for Verstappen to gain strength. This was perfectly exemplified in Abu Dhabi 2021 as he fended off Lewis Hamilton on older tyres to allow his teammate to catch up.

However, since then his form has been riddled with inconsistency, and can often (rather fairly) be accused of starting a season off well, and falling off the proverbial cliff once we reach the more traditional circuits mid-season.

Such has been Red Bull’s unprecedented levels of dominance, it hadn’t threatened to derail their success as a combination of the RB18 and RB19s raw pace alongside Max Verstappen has meant the Perez cracks have been papered up by the overwhelming feeling that on any given weekend for two years, no one could deny Max Verstappen from winning it all. But all eras come to an end. This year began with Verstappen chasing 11 wins in a row and looking to break Aryton Senna’s long standing record of 8 consecutive pole positions: however since then, Red Bulls season has has been unravelling before our very eyes, and the bleakness of Max’s pace compared to Lando Norris in Singapore laid before us the gap that has grown between the cars. The dominant 1-2 in Bahrain seems oh-so long ago as Red Bull now trail Mclaren in the constructors championship.

The struggles of Checo have been clear to see since Miami as Perez has fell from 2nd, to 8th in the standings, and the only standings Perez leads beings negative, such as the ‘Destructors championship’ (underlining crash damage by every drive) as he has racked up a bill of over 5 million for Red Bull, who simply cannot afford such expense in modern Formula One with the cost cap in play.

Such damage has harmed Red Bull’s ability to bring updates to the car, as highlighted by the team’s Senior Adviser, Helmut Marko who said spoke following Sergio’s huge crash in Monaco; “… In the worst case, this means we can do less development. If we have to do something extra due to the greater competitiveness of Ferrari and Mclaren, we are obviously handicapped” Clearly his form has damaged the team quite a lot both financially, and in terms of outright results, and with the rumoured replacing of Sergio with Daniel that was meant to have occurred in Spa, the question does beckon as to why it didn’t go through? Or do they believe they can finally trust Perez to bring results to the team?

The Lawson of it all

Liam Lawson has long been touted for a F1 seat, whilst not so successful in his junior career, Lawson was gifted an opportunity to drive a car whilst Ricciardo recovered from an ever so unlucky hand break whilst trying to avid the McLaren of fellow Aussie, Oscar Piastri, in Zandvoort and he did a solid job whilst he was there. Most notably knocking Verstappen out of qualifying in the midst of Red Bulls Singapore struggles and grabbing two points for a struggling Alpha Tauri team, who’s points until that point had been few and far between.

So whilst Ricciardo was deservedly retained for this season, it has been a back drop for parts of the year, Lawson in, Ricciardo out. It finally happened, but why?, why put him in for the final 6 races and not allow Daniel to finish the season? The simple answer is the need to drop Sergio Perez, it cannot be allowed to go on into 2025 with the field so close, so they desperately need a 2nd driver who can score their fair share of points, and so the final part of the season will be an audition to make or break his chances of a Red Bull seat, or any seat for next year as he is, at the moment, only contracted for the rest of 24′.

Meanwhile Yuki Tsunoda seems to be continually ignored no matter his performance, only telling us Red Bull don’t see him as the future, and is likely there to appease Honda until their partnership end and they evolve into Red Bull Powertrains in 2026.

Where to now for Daniel Ricciardo?

Daniel Ricciardo, The Last of the Late Breakers, The Honey Badger, Danny Ric. However you refer to him one thing will forever ring true, his legacy will live on no matter what, at his best he was a truly extraordinary driver, arguably the best driver on the grid between 2014 and 2016 as he put reigning 4-time world champion Vettel, and soon to be world champion Max Verstappen to the sword in unbelievable feats of supremacy. If this is it, he will always be the “what if” of Formula One, which would be a crying shame for someone who promised so much. He was not a flash in the pan, he was not just another drive passing by through the paddock, he is a legend of the sport, and in a cornerstone of the modern era. With personality in abundance and plenty talent and late breaking moves he attracted a large fan base, and it is a failure of the sport that a driver of his calibre never found himself in machinery capable of winning regularly.

Is it all over yet? Daniel Ricciardo is still highly regarded in the paddock and has not announced his retirement, leading some to believe he will make yet another comeback. Christian Horner, Red Bull team boss, recently spoke on the ‘F1 Nation Podcast’ and left the door wide open; “I mean, if Liam doesn’t get the job done, if Checo doesn’t get the job done, we know what Daniel’s capability is.” This has led many to speculate that Daniel’s future as Grand Prix driver, is still not over yet, and with him reportedly rejecting a 3 year deal from Audi not so long ago and them still having a seat free, who truly knows what will happen?

This is why we love F1 after all.