Ricciardo and Perez Safe: Red Bull Holds Off Midseason Shuffle
Jul.31 - Daniel Ricciardo can join Sergio Perez in breathing a sigh of relief this week, with Red Bull deciding against changing its Formula 1 driver lineups after the summer break.
Ralf Bach, writing for Auto Bild, says Max Verstappen and his management team were stunned to discover that Perez will not be dropped immediately for poor performance.
"Perez is staying," confirmed the energy drink brand's F1 consultant Dr Helmut Marko, after his meeting with Red Bull Racing team boss Christian Horner in Milton-Keynes.
"We want to get him back to his old form. Ricciardo is staying too. Nothing will change," said Marko.
2025, however, could be a different matter.
Bach reports that Red Bull may have intended to shuffle Perez aside and promote Ricciardo from the junior team RB for the remainder of 2024. But the brand was convinced by F1 owner Liberty Media to make another decision so as not to decimate attendance for the Mexican GP.
Sport Bild claims Perez's major Mexican backer and billionaire Carlos Slim also seems to have intervened.
But Marko suggested: "The cards will be reshuffled for 2025."
Indeed, it is believed Liam Lawson has basically been promised a RB cockpit for 2025, even though Ricciardo disagrees with Marko about whether the Faenza based outfit is still a 'junior team'.
"I'm honest with myself that if it still felt like a junior team, I wouldn't feel comfortable here," said the Australian. "I'm 35 now.
"I think I would feel a bit out of place. And I certainly don't."
Ricciardo will be head-to-head with Lawson, 22, during a RB 'filming day' test at Imola on Wednesday.
Ricciardo told f1-insider.com: "There's a lot at stake for me, but I'm in good spirits."
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They may be safe until this season's end or the Singapore-COTA interval at the very least, but next season is still another matter concerning Checo if he keeps on underperforming & costing the team higher points hauls.
Btw, the LM claim is simply unfounded as they've zero say on driver matters, not to mention next season's Mexico City GP ticket sales would be affected anyway if Checo got sacked post-season.
As for Carlos Slim, yes, Red Bull mightn't be as free with cash as in the Mateschitz era, but external factors are still secondary to such big organizations.
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