Perez's Red Bull F1 seat safe: Marko's reassuring message to fans
Jun.22 - Sergio Perez is not in danger of losing his Red Bull seat.
That is the reassuring message delivered to Max Verstappen's struggling teammate by Dr Helmut Marko, after Perez's string of disappointing performances.
The team's reserve driver Daniel Ricciardo this week told ESPN that returning to Red Bull to revive and then complete his F1 career would be "the fairytale ending".
"We'll see," said the Australian, who like Mexican Perez is 33. "I'll probably have to work my way up a little bit but it's really nice to be back here."
Marko, however, does not appear to be open to the idea of replacing Perez with Ricciardo.
When asked why Perez is 6 tenths a lap slower than Verstappen in an identical car, Marko told Osterreich newspaper: "Because Max is Max.
"He's in the best car, but only (Fernando) Alonso and (Lewis) Hamilton could keep up with him at best. Those three are simply the strongest, with Max standing out among them."
So when pressed again about Perez, Marko described it as a "luxury problem".
"We also take luxury problems seriously," said the 80-year-old. "But Perez has done the job we expect him to.
"He should help secure victory in the constructors' championship and the current standings prove that he is doing that," Marko told Sport1. "He has also shown that he can still win races when he is at his best.
"The question of whether he is good enough does not arise for us. Because Max is getting better and better and the question you have to ask yourself is rather a different one - who would be the alternative?
"Is there anyone who could really challenge Max right now? To be honest, I don't see anyone out there," Marko added.
And even if Red Bull does start shopping around for Perez's successor, it is likely to be an in-house solution - like Yuki Tsunoda or Liam Lawson, who is currently a Red Bull-backed frontrunner in the Japanese series Super Formula.
"He (Lawson) is the next from the Red Bull pool that we will see in Formula 1," predicts former F1 driver Gerhard Berger, who is close to the Red Bull camp.
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The No 2 driver is not only there to pick up the pieces when the Mo 1 messes up , but more importantly its to take points away from the competition, and over a season , Checo will do that
Don't talk sense, Shrop'. Checo has 3 bad races on the trot. Good grief, we only have a 150 point lead in 8 races. What WILL we do??? LOL
Liam Lawson would, of course, first drive at AlphaTauri rather than jump straight to Red Bull Racing.
IMO the task of an ideal No.2 driver is not so simple. The #2 should qualify on the front row or second row, and then act as a road block to slow the other contenders down allowing the #1 driver to make a good cushion to the rest of the field. #2 driver should also be in a position to take the win, or at least a podium, if #1 driver fails.
Perez fulfilled that role at the start of the season, but has lost his way over the past three races. He needs to get his focus back again and perform without the whinging!
You are correct. Still, Checo is the best #2 for RB. The doc has a stiffie over RIC and talk of a rookie backup is just plain stupid.
At the end of the day, if Max wants a change of driver then Max will get what he wants.
Sorry ROR but I disagree with your confidence in Checo although he has spasms of pure brilliance & when he does he hits the tequila & drops to the back of the pack in other words he is inconsistent, shame cause I like Checo. 😜
Ricciardo trying to white ant Perez after a few disappointing performances from Checo.
Would be very risky by Red Bull to consider putting RIC
in that seat considering his performances at Alpine and McLaren. RIC is no Alonso.
Ricciardo trying to white ant Perez after a few disappointing performances from Checo.
Would be very risky by Red Bull to consider putting RIC
in that seat considering his performances at Alpine and McLaren. RIC is no Alonso.
Ricciardo trying to white ant Perez after a few disappointing performances from Checo.
Would be very risky by Red Bull to consider putting RIC
in that seat considering his performances at Alpine and McLaren. RIC is no Alonso.
Ricciardo trying to white ant Perez after a few disappointing performances from Checo.
Would be very risky by Red Bull to consider putting RIC
in that seat considering his performances at Alpine and McLaren. RIC is no Alonso.
Your very passionate about this I see. 😁
Don't know if anyone else has the same problem but regularly I cant put thumbs up or thumbs down on a lot of the posts.
Leopold has altered the software so all my posts cant be thumbed down..... 😁
You can't thumb down or up a post twice...
I know that but I often can't do it once!
Having said that it's just let me thumb up yours!