Red Bull senior advisor Helmut Marko has given the strongest indication yet that Daniel Ricciardo is in contention for the the team's second race seat alongside Max Verstappen.
Ricciardo will get his first taste of a Red Bull F1 car in five years when he conducts a tyre test for Pirelli following next month's British Grand Prix at Silverstone, and then another later in the year at Monza – the site of his famous win for McLaren in the 2021 Italian Grand Prix.
In the interview, Marko admitted the team would use the tests to "evaluate" Ricciardo's pace, with an eye towards a potential replacement for Sergio Perez.
READ MORE: Hollywood A-listers buy stake in F1 squad
READ MORE: Major blow to Australia's main World Cup rival
READ MORE: Ashes takes turn as Lord's green monster unveiled
"We will have Ricciardo in the car for three days after Silverstone at the tyre test and then you can evaluate where Ricciardo really stands," Marko told Austrian broadcaster ORF.
Perez' position in the second seat was thought to be safe until his form fell off a cliff after the Miami Grand Prix.
Following his second win of the year at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in late April, Perez trailed Verstappen by just eight points in the World Championship and looked to be a genuine contender.
He would again stand on the podium in second place next time out in Miami, but since then has qualified outside the top-10 and missed the podium at each of the last three races at Monaco, Barcelona and Montreal. The Red Bull is far and away the quickest car on the F1 grid.
The deficit in the championship now lies at 69 points – nearly three whole races.
While it would take a monumental collapse for Perez to cost Red Bull the constructors world championship – they lead Mercedes by 154 points – his form slump hasn't gone unnoticed by Red Bull powerbrokers.
"(Perez) initial target was two, three years, which would be more than he planned anyway, and you just have to keep options open for the succession," Marko said of the Mexican, who joined the squad for the 2021 season.
Marko's use of succession is a key indicator they are planning for life beyond Perez. While Max Verstappen is contracted to the team until at least the end of 2028, Red Bull clearly don't see Perez in their long-term plans beyond his current contract, which expires at the end of 2024.
Red Bull have in the past been ruthless with their driver swaps – just ask Pierre Gasly and Alex Albon – so Perez would be entitled to be feeling somewhat nervous.
Since he left the sport at the end of last season, Ricciardo has maintained he would only return to the sport with a top team.
However, with Perez' contract running through until next year, reports are emerging from the paddock he may spend a year with AlphaTauri, who are currently languishing on the bottom of the constructors championship.
Yuki Tsunoda has been showing promising form, but the speed of former Formula E world champion Nyck De Vries has been disappointing.
Putting Ricciardo in at AlphaTauri – the team with which he drove for in his first full year in F1 in 2012 – might on paper look like a backwards step. But it would give the team an experienced head alongside Tsunoda, and would be a way to get Ricciardo race fit and for Red Bull to properly assess his form.
Having said that, Lewis Hamilton is yet to formally re-sign with Mercedes (despite both he and the team for months maintaining they're only days away from doing), so strange things may yet happen in the F1 silly season.
For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by clicking here!
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.