Red Bull boss Christian Horner has disclosed the team has “all the info” required on both Sergio Perez and Daniel Ricciardo as it considers its Formula 1 driver line-up.
Perez’s disastrous plight through the grid to come home eighth on the road having started second has prompted speculation to swirl again surrounding his prospects.
Horner and Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko are scheduled to hold an annual summer break meeting today, with a decision on whether Perez continues on the agenda.
The rumours regarding Perez being dropped have gathered increased traction since it was leaked that Ricciardo will participate in a filming day in RB’s 2024 machine.
However, Horner, who has admitted that Red Bull wants to see Perez turn around his slump, has denied that there is more added substance behind Ricciardo’s outing.
“It’s a filming day, so they’ll be filming, so it’s all about content,” Horner said.
He added: “It is in a current car, because you can do 200km in the current car, so we’ll both be doing plenty of filming.”
When it was put to him that the Imola event was being done in an RB car and not a Red Bull, Horner reiterated: “It’s a filming day, not a tyre test. It’s a filming day, yes.”
Ricciardo has overcome a slow start to the campaign to bolster his Red Bull chances and he was rewarded in Belgium as George Russell’s exclusion gave him a point.
“I think he’s done alright,” Horner said. I haven’t looked at the race, I only saw the result that he was 11th, and starting on the Soft tyre, he’s obviously doing a good race.”
Horner has divulged Red Bull has all the data available to evaluate Perez and Ricciardo’s respective levels, but he repeated that he wants to avoid a switch at all costs.
“Look, we’re in a great position where we’ve got all the info, and the priority is to support Checo and to understand what he needs,” he explained.
“We all want him to turn it around, we all want to see him deliver.”
Meanwhile, Horner is also optimistic Red Bull is in strong shape with a Driver Development Programme that comprises Formula 2 championship leader Isack Hadjar.
“Yeah, we’ve got issues today, but you’ve got to have solutions for tomorrow as well,” he commented.
“I think we’ve got a tremendous pool of talent, we’ve got experience, we’ve got youth, we’ve got Liam [Lawson] in the wings, we’ve got Hadjar doing a super job in F2.
“We’ve got Arvid Lindblad who I think is a really exciting talent in F3. So yeah, I think we’ve got some great talent in our squad.”
Just saw announced that Perez stays with Red Bull. According to Horner his strongest circuits come after the summer break…
What joke this.
Anyone who believes that Checo’s contract for 2025-6 was signed without conditional clauses for performance metrics for the remainder of 2024 doesn’t know RBR. If he can’t meet those metrics he had no contract beyond 2024.