Red Bull will favor a young driver to replace Sergio Perez
Red Bull is looking into Sergio Perez's successor, as the Mexican only has one year left on his contract. Instead of recruiting from the competition, the Austrian firm should trust one of its young drivers.
Constructor champion for the past two seasons, Red Bull is outperformed by McLaren at the end of this season. While Verstappen remains at the top of the drivers’ standings, Sergio Perez has been struggling since the beginning of the season. Eighth overall, the Mexican has not been on the podium for 14 races since the Chinese Grand Prix in April.
His contract ending at the end of 2025, Red Bull is already starting to plan Perez’s successor for 2026. Especially as he could take the place of the Mexican before this date if the Austrian team separates prematurely from its number 11.
Many drivers could claim to accompany Verstappen in a few months. A young driver from the academy, coming from Formula 2, one of the two Racing Bulls drivers (Tsunoda or Lawson), or a driver belonging to another team. Helmut Marko, adviser of Red Bull, dismissed the latter possibility.
Russell out, Tsunoda and Lawson as favorites?
Christian Horner, Red Bull team principal, was considering poaching from the competition a few days ago. Russell, whose contract with Mercedes ends in 2025 – multiple clauses would trigger an automatic extension – was an option: “It would be stupid not to take it into account,” the Briton declared on Sky Sports. Des propos qui n’avaient pas plu à Toto Wolff.
Helmut Marko ruled out the Russell track in an interview with Formel1.de: Russell is affiliated with Mercedes-Benz and we are now focusing on our juniors. The “juniors” include drivers from the Red Bull academy from the lower categories but also Racing Bulls drivers, Yuki Tsunoda, and Liam Lawson, who replaced Ricciardo. And now, let’s see what our juniors or even a Yuki Tsunoda can do. He can also be considered a junior. But as I said earlier, how does he compare to a Lawson? adds Marko.
Read also: Lawson susceptible de remplacer Pérez chez Red Bull selon Horner
The performances of the two drivers with RB will therefore be closely monitored by the parent team. The Japanese driver is only 24 years old and has solid experience, about to conclude his fourth season as a full-time driver. However, his superiors could be more demanding towards him than towards younger drivers, especially his new New Zealand teammate who will have the opportunity to show himself in the last six races of the season.
A young person diving straight into the deep end?
Formula 1 teams do not hesitate to trust (very) young drivers. Alpine, Mercedes, and Haas are the perfect examples with the recruitment in 2025 of Jack Doohan (21 years old), Kimi Antonelli (18), and Ollie Bearman (19). The recent performances of the latter and Franco Colapinto (21 years old), who replaces Sargeant at Williams in F1 for the end of the season, have amazed Helmut Marko. “[Colapinto] who was relatively inexperienced and did not have much success in the junior series, even though it must be said he never had the best teams, but what incredible performances he is achieving today,” he says. “[Colapinto] is undoubtedly a safe bet for the future.”
Performances that could give Red Bull some ideas. Even if its academy seems less flashy than before, it has promising drivers in its ranks. Currently second in F2, 20-year-old Frenchman Isack Hadjar is one of them and could apply for the seat left vacant by Perez. Especially as Marko agrees, a top team does not necessarily need drivers with three or five years of experience.
