2023 Oracle Red Bull Racing F1 Team

[Cs98]

Indeed. They aren't averse to midseason driver swaps or going against their own word though. See Pierre being given very supportive words just before losing his seat. Horner will always support the current driver publicly even whilst making moves behind the scenes to change them.

I'm 99% this is all marko. Horner doesn't really have driver decision authority within red bull, he's more like a glorified manager. We know Marko is his superior because he negotiated him not leaving for ferrari ("this cost us millions" - marko in an austrian interview).
There's been a number of situations where horner wanted to hire a different driver but got overruled by marko in the end. In 2013 horner wanted raikkonen in the car for 2014, marko wanted ricciardo. Correct decision there by Marko as raikkonen was extremely washed at that point. Horner didn't want devries in AT but marko wanted him and so it happened. Agreed by marko in the end it was the wrong decision. I'm sure there were a bunch of other times they disagreed.

TBH marko's decisions were good up until Max, then took a nosedive. Gasly is mentally weak and isn't RB material on his best days, shouldn't ever be put in main team. They put a rookie albon next to Max next with predictable results. Wasted a fast, if rough driver at that stage.
Marko's time must be up by now, unless he's got some other vital input in the overall success of the team that we're not aware of. Dude is 80 after all. Imagine Bernie still running f1, guaranteed disaster.

Marko was a middle-man between Mateschitz and the RBR management. His power within the team stemmed from that friendship and him reporting back to Mateschitz what was happening at the track. With DM gone I suspect Marko will soon be retired from duty, he just doesn't fill a function with the team anymore.

[SirBastianVettel]

Albon's average qualifying position in 2020 was 7.18

Perez's average qualifying position in 2023 is 8.94

Would be interesting to compare these numbers to the average qualifying field spread of those two seasons.

[chrisc90]

https://www.gpblog.com/en/news/239976/f ... -cars.html

Interesting

[Juzh]

It's obvious 2024 will be perez' last year in F1, he's never getting a renewal. Tsunoda or Ric will be in that seat in 2025, both of whom are nothing special themselves. Ric is washed and tsunoda a hot head without speed to back it up.

[AR3-GP]

Just sign Hulkenberg and be done with it. I'm not listening to counter arguments

*cough*. I'm still not accepting counter arguments.

[Wil992]

It's obvious 2024 will be perez' last year in F1, he's never getting a renewal. Tsunoda or Ric will be in that seat in 2025, both of whom are nothing special themselves. Ric is washed and tsunoda a hot head without speed to back it up.

I don't think it's that obvious tbh.
I wouldn't be surprised if 2023 is his last. I don't think I'd even be that shocked if Suzuka '23 was his last race.

[TFSA]

I don't think it's that obvious tbh.
I wouldn't be surprised if 2023 is his last. I don't think I'd even be that shocked if Suzuka '23 was his last race.

They have noone they can replace him with, since Ricciardo is still recovering.

Also, they can't do a team swap because AlphaTauri has already used their maximum of 4 drivers this year.

[Wil992]

Ricciardo will be back next race, the one after at the latest. No need for AT to team swap anyone, they have Lawson and Tsunoda now and can stay that way. Ric to RBR in place of Perez is the only move required. As i said though, I'm not advocating that should happen or even really care all that much either way, i was simply saying it wouldn't be a surprise if it did.

[Just_a_fan]

Ricciardo will be back next race, the one after at the latest. No need for AT to team swap anyone, they have Lawson and Tsunoda now and can stay that way. Ric to RBR in place of Perez is the only move required. As i said though, I'm not advocating that should happen or even really care all that much either way, i was simply saying it wouldn't be a surprise if it did.

There's no need to swap Perez out midseason this year. The WCC is secure and Max is going to win the WDC at a canter. Swapping Perez for someone else brings what to the party? Better to do the change over the winter when the team can manage the PR aspects without the distraction of races getting in the way.

[101FlyingDutchman]

I wouldn’t even be surprised to see ALO in for 2024. Stranger things have happened. But it will secure a WCC next year when other teams inevitably get closer. Maybe it’s my own wishful thinking haha

[Wil992]

There's no need to swap Perez out midseason this year. The WCC is secure and Max is going to win the WDC at a canter. Swapping Perez for someone else brings what to the party? Better to do the change over the winter when the team can manage the PR aspects without the distraction of races getting in the way.

You may well be right, but at the same time Lawson might get snapped up in the mean-time, and it's not as though RBR don't have form in this area, so I wouldn't say it's likely but I wouldn't be shocked either.

[bluechris]

To me if they really don't feel good with Perez, its better to get immediately Riccardo and with this you will give him the ability to adapt for some races to be better next year.
Either way i don't think they will do something.
Honestly if i was Max, from next race and the WDC in my hands, i could had got a sabbatical for the rest of the season

[AR3-GP]

There's no need to swap Perez out midseason this year. The WCC is secure and Max is going to win the WDC at a canter. Swapping Perez for someone else brings what to the party? Better to do the change over the winter when the team can manage the PR aspects without the distraction of races getting in the way.

You may well be right, but at the same time Lawson might get snapped up in the mean-time, and it's not as though RBR don't have form in this area, so I wouldn't say it's likely but I wouldn't be shocked either.

Lawson will have eyes for the main RB seat though. Drivers tend to just want to be in the fastest car. He won't do anything that would risk that.

[FittingMechanics]

There is no reason to change Perez this year. If Red Bull (Verstappen) is as dominant next year, there is no reason to change next year as well. I think we might get Perez to start the year and then if the competition is tough and he is not delivering, we get a quick promotion of one of the drivers to his seat. Whoever they think is best at the moment (Lawson, Tsunoda or Ricciardo).

If 2024 is as 2023 - why should they rock the boat and get Verstappen under pressure?

[AR3-GP]

There is no reason to change Perez this year. If Red Bull (Verstappen) is as dominant next year, there is no reason to change next year as well. I think we might get Perez to start the year and then if the competition is tough and he is not delivering, we get a quick promotion of one of the drivers to his seat. Whoever they think is best at the moment (Lawson, Tsunoda or Ricciardo).

It doesn't make any sense to think a mid-season change would be an upgrade in that kind of pressure situation. If the competition is close, then it's unlikely that someone who hasn't driven the car is going to be competitive right off the bat to the point that it's a net benefit. The last person to ever do that was Verstappen himself and none of the people on that list are him.