Sergio Perez will remain Max Verstappen’s teammate after the summer break despite poor performances in recent months.
Christian Horner and Helmut Marko have had a difficult resolution in recent weeks as the war for the Constructors’ World Championship becomes fierce with Max Verstappen facing attack from two McLaren and Mercedes drivers in particular.
The numbers don’t lie. The 2024 season is one of the most balanced in recent years in terms of functionality between the teams. And in this situation, the influence of the drivers behind the wheel is decisive in intimidating rivals in other race modalities and, ultimately, getting as many points as possible.
Of Red Bull’s 408 problems so far, 277 have been scored through Verstappen, compared to Perez’s 131. This places Red Bull as the “Big Four” team with the worst proportion of consistently scored problems with their teammate.
These figures are very representative. With the same car, in the first 14 races of the calendar before the summer break, Verstappen has scored 2. 11 points for every point scored by Pérez so far.
As for head-to-head clashes in qualifying, comparing the speed of the two in the same sessions to make the fairest comparison imaginable, Verstappen won 14-0, with Perez averaging 0. 471 seconds slower than the Dutch driver.
Although it still occupies first position in the World Constructors’ Championship, the numbers show a worrying trend for Red Bull.
With McLaren and Mercedes on the rise and Ferrari, despite their late-race messes, remaining within reach, Red Bull’s championship chances look unlikely.
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In the last three races in Silverstone, Hungary and Spa-Francorchamps, circuits with different characteristics, McLaren has scored 98 points compared to Red Bull’s 53. If this trend continues, it is possible that McLaren will lead the championship from the Azerbaijan GP.
Christian Horner and Helmut Marko are well aware of this reality. Knowing the very limited progression plan of the RB20 at this level of current regulations, the big question they asked themselves was: is there anyone capable of matching Sergio Pérez’s numbers with this car? And that is why the names of Daniel Ricciardo and Liam Lawson have appeared.
The fact is that Daniel Ricciardo is not in his most productive form either. Rewarding him with a promotion to Red Bull would arguably be too ambitious.
Of course, his numbers against Max Verstappen in the future show that he is his most powerful teammate, even beating him in the 2017 season, and in 2016, Max did not get to complete the season with Red Bull. But that was almost seven years ago.
As you can see, only Ricciardo in the last seven years has come close to Max Verstappen’s speed in qualifying.
Pérez’s numbers were not that bad and, until the last 14 races, when Red Bull began to come under pressure from other teams, the Mexican was a success in his capacity as “number two driver. “
So far in 2024, Daniel Ricciardo is Yuki Tsunoda in the driver standings and head-to-head standings, with the Japanese driver leading the Australian 9-5.
However, Ricciardo has improved his numbers since the Austria GP, when rumours about a conceivable replacement for Perez became stronger than ever.
Despite Perez’s poor numbers and Red Bull hoping that the reaction Red Bull expected has yet to come, the team has given him the odd vote of confidence. No one else has done anything ordinary to earn the privilege of driving. the RB20.
In a critical scenario like Red Bull’s at the moment, instability does not seem to be a imaginable solution.
Perez will keep his seat for now due to his work over the past three years, but if he continues in poor form Red Bull will terminate his contract ahead of an even fiercer war expected over the course of the 2025 F1 season.
And it will be even more so if the 2024 Constructors’ Championship trophy ends up on the team’s trophy rack. . .
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