It must be hard for Sergio Perez right now, having people questioning whether he ever has the pace to put a sustained challenge to teammate Max Verstappen. There has also been a lot expected from the Mexican given how fast the RB19 is compared to the other 9 teams on the grid, so is that pressure warranted or is it a distraction that Perez doesn't need? Will he get replaced at Red Bull? Who are the possible contenders if Red Bull doesn't retain Perez?
Sergio Perez may be 2nd in the drivers championship but that is expected when you are driving the fastest car on the grid this year but he finds himself 81 points off his teammate and has only out-qualified Verstappen twice this season and they have been in sessions where Verstappen has had engine issues in Saudi Arabia and a late session red flag in Miami prevented the Dutchman from setting a representative lap time.
One of Perez's biggest issues is that when it comes to out-right speed, Checo finds himself unable to match his teammates' race pace and you can argue that he doesn't have the same race pace as drivers in slower cars. Imagine what Fernando Alonso, Charles Leclerc, Lewis Hamilton, etc could do if they were in the 2nd Red Bull seat. Another thing that goes against Perez is that we are fast approaching the time of year when F1's silly season really kicks into overdrive when teams start looking at their driver lineups and looking at available options should a change be needed.
who could replace Perez?
Should Red Bull decide to replace Perez, they won't be short of options, whether it be drivers in their junior categories, drivers from rival teams, or from outside of F1, so let's jump into the options.
Liam Lawson
Liam Lawson is currently the reserve driver for the Austrian outfit and currently races in Super Formula for Team Mugen where he has 2 wins, 2 podiums, and is currently sitting in P2 in the championship. Lawson has had several FP1s with the team and the sister team Alpha Tauri since the regulation came in where drivers who have competed in less than 2 races have to participate in practice. Lawson is also a Formula 2 race winner, winning 4 races and getting 13 podiums. The only question hanging with Liam Lawson is that is he worth taking the risk without the stepping stone of Alpha Tauri.
Yuki Tsunoda
Yuki Tsunoda is the only Red Bull-backed driver to currently occupy a seat in Formula 1 but in 2023 the Japanese driver hasn't been able to show his true pace with the Alpha Tauri due to it being arguably the slowest car on the grid (depending on the track layout of course). Tsunoda would find it hard to get anywhere near the pace of Verstappen if he was promoted to the main team, so I wouldn't be surprised to see Tsunoda stay at Alpha Tauri for the 2024 season.
Alex Palou
Should Red Bull look to replace Perez and felt that there weren't any in their driver academy to step up in the seat, why not look across the pond at IndyCar? It's no secret that Red Bull tried to pursue Colton Herta into F1 without a super license due to IndyCar super license points system and they may want to try it again but this time with Alex Palou. The Spaniard is on fire in the IndyCar season claiming 4 wins from the last 5 races and could have won the Indy 500 before a pitlane incident stopped that from happening. Palou and Verstappen are arguably the 2 drivers on the planet right now driving at the top of their series and it would be something that would be interesting to see if it was to happen. The only stumbling block for this to happen is Zak Brown and McLaren organisation as it looks as if the Spaniard might be going to Arrow McLaren but he does have a clause in his contract that allows him to speak to F1 teams but only up to July 30th when McLaren have full control of his destiny.
Charles Leclerc
I'd like to see Charles Leclerc move to this dominant Red Bull team, but it's always the hope that kills you at the end of the day. We all know that Leclerc is one of the fastest drivers on the grid and certainly outperforms the Ferrari both over 1 lap and in race conditions. For it to happen it would be quite a statement from Red Bull to bring in another number 1 driver and sort of have what Mercedes had with Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton but it's something that Red Bull has been used to in previous eras with Sebastian Vettel/Mark Webber and Vettel/Daniel Ricciardo. So could Leclerc really be Verstappen's teammate in 2024, I highly doubt it but weirder things have happened before in F1.
Fernando Alonso
Fernando Alonso has to be up there with one of the best in F1 this season, the results that the Spaniard has been getting for the Silverstone-based team have been more than what they could have wished for at the start of the season. He's been consistently quicker than teammate Lance Stroll since Australia (yes I've given Stroll the benefit of the doubt with his pre-season bike accident and was still catching up by the time the doctors said that he should be racing he would be 100%). Alonso is in close competition with Perez for 2nd place in the standings and you could say that he has been performing better than what the car should be in relation to Aston Martins rivals Mercedes and Ferrari.
Daniel Ricciardo:
Daniel Ricciardo is in a similar position as Lawson when it comes to being in line for a seat in F1 for 2024. Having sat out the 2023 season, the Australian is desperate to jump back into F1 with it being at Alpha Tauri or at the main team. The biggest question mark for Ricciardo to ask himself is whether or not he can keep up with Verstappen's pace which his replacements since he left haven't been able to do. The last time Verstappen and Ricciardo were teammates (back in 2018) they were very close on pace and during the 2018 Azerbaijan Grand Prix they came together several times and it would be interesting to see if that is taken into consideration should Ricciardo be placed in the 2nd Red Bull again.
What will happen to Perez?
I honestly don't see Red Bull changing their driver lineup for the 2024 season as their options are too limited. The one thing that Red Bull has with Checo is that he will never cause any inter-team divide like what has happened at other teams when they have a dominant car and 2 drivers that you would consider number 1 drivers. Checo comes with a reputation for being able to look after tyres better than anyone else but sometimes that means nothing when he is a dozen seconds off his teammate and a dozen seconds ahead of third place.
Checo has a knack for clutching up strong results on street tracks with Red Bull, in 2021 for example a late-race tyre failure for Verstappen led to a red flag and Perez was able to finish off the job that Verstappen had done. In 2022 Checo took 2 wins and they were both on street tracks in Monaco after a blunder by Ferrari, and the other came at Singapore. The same has carried on in 2023 with wins at Jeddah and at Baku.
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