Though leading the constructors’ championship, Red Bull Racing faces a problem, one we ask you to ponder for this week’s Pirtek Poll.
McLaren is just 42 points away after 14 rounds, having eaten into Red Bull’s advantage by more than 70 points in eight races.
That’s largely a result of Perez failing to deliver since the Miami Grand Prix.
With the championship worth a considerable amount of money, and team boss Christian Horner having described the Mexican’s form as “unsustainable,” it was expected he’d be ousted from the seat.
Red Bull has form for swift, brutal decisions; just ask Nyck de Vries, Alex Albon, Daniil Kvyat, among a host of others and most believed it was really a question of who would replace him: Daniel Ricciardo or Liam Lawson?
Instead, it was decided not to make a change in a decision that deviates from Red Bull’s typical modus operandi.
It’s understood that conclusion was reached because neither Ricciardo nor Lawson offer a guaranteed step up from the current situation.
On top of that, it’s been suggested that the opinion internally is that Perez hasn’t been supported well enough, and that car development has taken the RB20 away from the 34-year-old.
Hence the outcome of crunch talks between Horner and Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko was to give Perez a stay of execution.
That’s not to say he is safe until the end of the season, Speedcafe understands the pressure remains on, but that effort will be put into creating an environment and package that is better suited to the six-time race winner.
And it wasn’t just on Perez either, with Ricciardo also understood to be safe until the end of the year.
Ricciardo remains without a race contract for 2025, the only one of the four Red Bull drivers in that position.
Given that position, and the comparative lack of faith that state of affairs implies, the general consensus was that, should the Australian not be promoted, that he would fall victim himself.
At 35 he doesn’t obviously fit the model that Red Bull’s second team has tended to fill, which is to develop young drivers for a potential promotion to the senior squad.
Things have changed of late and the team needs to stand on its own feet, but it is currently doing that primarily through Yuki Tsunoda.
Ricciardo has improved after a slow start, but seemingly not enough (or too late) to impress the bosses at Milton Keynes – otherwise he’d have been named alongside Max Verstappen.
Once upon a time, it would have, and Ricciardo would have been cast aside just as de Vries was a year ago in favour of fresh blood.
Instead, the situation is a paradox as the once merciless Red Bull management appears to have held back, arguably for the first time in two decades.
And it leaves Red Bull in a position where there is no real clarity or direction on drivers as it races towards 2025.
How long does Perez have to lift? If Ricciardo is safe for this year, what does that mean for Lawson, and could it force him to Sauber (Audi)?
Once, for better or worse, historically these questions wouldn’t have existed because a clear, decisive move would have been made. Instead, we’re left to question; has Red Bull gone soft?
Let us know what you think below in this week’s Pirtek Poll.
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