Is Perez the new Rici?

Id love to see the Hulk in that car. Extracts full value from qualifying and is reasonable for race pace. If Perez gets the RB up front in quali usually the car is good enough for him to finish in the top 5. Someone like Hulk can nail qualifying and start up front consistently.

 

Because there is nobody else who can take the part.
To be #2 at Red Bull, one has to abandon personnal ambitions, drive sensibly, not challenge Max, finish as close as you can from Max, take all the critics from Horner, and the gripes from Marko, and mostly NEVER ANSWER BACK !!
Red Bull has tried Kyat, Gasly, and Albon to no avail before recruiting Perez, now in his 5th years at RB.
So, I presume they are rather pleased with Perez, since they are not shy to demote/sack drivers out of favour.
It's just that Red Bull needs a Whipping-boy alongside Max Verstappen, someone Helmut Marko can constantly berate in the media. In this situation, I thing Perez does a terriffic job in view of the circumstances.
Dominant car or not, I don't think someone like Alonso would take that sh** for long !

 

Does anyone seriously believe Red Bull don't want a second driver to challenge Max? Red Bull was disappointed when Ricciardo left the team, and were quite vocal about saying Daniel left as he was afraid of battling with Max. RBR wanted Daniel to stay, even though at the time Ricciardo was very strong against Max. Gasly and Albon got fired because they weren't performing close enough to Max. Perez continues to get criticized by his own team (mainly Marko) for not performing well enough.

Their actions and words suggest they want a driver that can deliver results closer to Max.

 

It looks like they found no one! No surprise. The #2 drive at RB is an ejector seat; the word got around.
I rather suspect Ricci left RB because of the unfair treatment he received. The same reason Mark Webber left.
Horner's policy is to put all his weight behind a designated leader, and then smoothe bruised egos with sweet talks.

 

Ric left RB because of the failing record and the questions that were being asked. It's very hard to keep telling everyone and anyone who will listen how great you are when you get beaten by your teammate. He suffered the same humiliation at McLaren with Land and now VCARB with Yuki. He should just be the clown he is and do TV.

 

In his last year at Red Bull, Ricciardo scored 2 GP wins. Max also scored 2 wins.
So I don't know where the "failing record" comes from. To me, it was management failure.
During their time together, Max drove very aggressively and had several contacts with Ricci.
RBR let them fight; when Max made contact (and sometimes eliminated) Ricci, Horner said nothing.
But if unfortunatelly DR was at fault, it was a different story; Marko would go to the media and crucifie him.
Ricciardo confronted Horner, who pretended it was nothing. That spoiled the atmosphere in the team.
Feeling supported by the management, Max and his father became cocky with Ricci.
Ricci reached a point where he couldn't take it anymore, and decided to accept Renault's offer.
Since, any #2 at Red Bull has been treated differently to Max. Perez is the one who lasted the longuest.

 

I agree with you. Who knows what kind of deals were offered, but I do think anyone going into RB would have to know that Max is #1 and the car will be more designed and developed to his likings. Rightfully so too. It's a proven system that has worked time and time again. I also agree that Ricciardo left because he saw the team moving towards Max as the #1 and understandably Ricciardo likely believed he should be #1 or at the very least an equal. There was no way RB was making DR #1 with Max there. And they clearly made the right decision.

Driving along side Max can be career suicide. Even someone like Alonso could consider his legacy. If he joined RB and got destroyed the same as everyone else, would he still be looked at as one of the greats? I'm not suggesting that's what happened to Alonso, but it is possible with any driver.

I have to think that if RBR really wanted Alonso or Sainz, they could have made it happen. However things went behind the scenes, once they were off the table, they were really only left with Perez. Which is a very good deal to Red Bull the business and perhaps Perez was their first and only choice to begin with.

 

Their latest action says they are not looking for a driver to challenge him. You gotta think, Perez is making Max look real good.

 

Yes, but having say, Norris, Russell or Sainz in the same team, I'm sure he would get pissy and uncomfortable, specially if things don't go his way.
And now that he's a triple WC, he would not tolerate such scenarios. It'd take just one close contact in a race to get things boiled over.

 

I would expect nothing less. Every driver duo will get pissy about the other, especially if they are close to each other.

 

Red Bull have proven what they are looking for in a #2 driver and Perez is that guy. Why else would they sign him to an extension? His performance this year hasn't even come close to last year when he was supposedly on tenterhooks and being criticized every race by Marko. I guess there is a lot that goes on behind the scene which we can only speculate about. I predict Max will leave before Checo.

 

Bold prediction !!
I guess Max will only leave when Red Bull will cease being one of the 3 top teams.

 

William, would it surprise you for Max to win this year and then move to Mercedes before the new regulations kick in? I could see it happening. How sweet to have Boy George get schooled every race.

 

Yes, it would surprise me, but nothing is impossible.

 

I see.

 

Totally agree

 

Red Bull confirms second year of Perez deal not guaranteed

Christian Horner has clarified that Sergio Perez’s recently signed two-year extension with Red Bull offers the Milton Keynes-based outfit the flexibility to part ways with the Mexican driver at the end of 2025.

 

Perez has stipulations i.e. he needs to perform in that car otherwise he's out. IF he keeps doing the same, I wouldn't be surprised if RedBull cut Perez at the end of the year.

 

Interesting. Certainly RedBull would do exactly that. They have done so in the past.........

 

So, it's not really a two-year contract extension, but a 1 + 1. Which is different.

 

I felt the same thing, only explanation I have is Max literally requested it. Just spitballing.

 

Hulk to Red Bull would make sense

 

Rumor mill:

Okay, I know some here might be "surprised" about this or do a "wtf moment" but IF Perez gets ousted due to contractual requirements by not fulfilling his side of the contract, Ricciardo looks likely to take the seat.

I know, I know........Ricciardo is like past due his expiration date but that's the rumor at the moment.

 

I think Audi have already kind of secured him.