The writing appears to be on the wall for Sergio Perez at Red Bull after a campaign he described as ‘terrible’.
Red Bull have already held a meeting that has likely decided whether Sergio Perez will be on the grid next season.
All the noises suggest Perez will lose his Red Bull race seat despite having a contract that runs until at least the end of the 2025 season.
Unfortunately for the 34-year-old, he drivers for the only manufacturer on the grid who have a junior team on the grid with two ready-made replacements ready to take his place.
RB are on the grid to develop Red Bull’s most talented young drivers, which is why their strategy has looked slightly confused in recent times after signing Nyck de Vries in the last two years.
They ended the season with Yuki Tsunoda and Liam Lawson at the helm and they appeared to be part of a six-race shootout for Perez’s seat, as interest in Franco Colapinto has now subsided.
Journalist Nate Saunders was speaking on the Unlapped Podcast about how chief advisor Helmut Marko and team principal Christian Horner view their two proteges.
It’s safe to say they’re only in agreement about one candidate for Perez’s position.
Helmut Marko and Christian Horner disagree on Yuki Tsunoda’s Red Bull promotion
Talking about the current situation at Red Bull, Saunders said: “I don’t know, with Yuki, it does seem like Marko’s in favour and Horner’s not so much and that does seem to be the weird dynamic behind all of this.
“I think Lawson, both of them I think are impressed.
“Lawson hasn’t been spectacular but I think also and I think you can’t underestimate this, he’s come in and he’s just been solid.
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“He’s not crashed, and when he’s needed to be, he’s been racy with Fernando, he was aggressive with Perez and I think that guys like Horner look at that and they’re like, yeah we like what we’re seeing there, there’s a bit of a fight in him.
“Again, harsh on Yuki because I think Yuki’s got all of those traits. I think almost Yuki’s been around so long now, there’s almost examples whether fairly or not they can point out and say well look that sums up what I’m saying, classic old Yuki.
“And it’s like, you’re talking about something from like two years ago but it’s like well you don’t know how his head’s going to be.
“So to tie a bow on that whole thing, I think it’ll be Lawson replaces Perez, Perez moves out and then we have Isack Hadjar who’ll be another rookie on the grid next year.”
Abu Dhabi post-season test the final throw of the dice for Yuki Tsunoda’s Red Bull chances
Tsunoda had to wait years to finally be handed a chance to drive a Red Bull and after some encouragement from Honda, he was granted a seat in the RB20 at Tuesday’s post-season test in Abu Dhabi.
Red Bull were encouraged by Tsunoda’s performance but whether that will be enough to sway Horner is another matter.
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After four years, Red Bull would have likely given Tsunoda his chance to race alongside Max Verstappen if he was going to.
The Japanese driver may have to prepare for a fifth campaign in the junior team while watching how Lawson deals with racing alongside of the sport’s greatest drivers.
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