Red Bull have a big decision to make over their driver line-up for the 2025 season. That’s because Sergio Perez is out of contract at the end of the current campaign.
There’s a small amount of uncertainty over the future of Max Verstappen amid interest from Mercedes. The Silver Arrows, of course, are looking for a replacement for the Ferrari-bound Lewis Hamilton.
But Red Bull expect Verstappen, who won the Chinese Grand Prix on Sunday to make it four victories from five races in 2024, to honour his contract. That deal runs until the end of the 2028 season.
As such, most of the attention is on Perez. The Mexican endured a frustrating weekend in Shanghai that ended in a third-place finish behind both Verstappen and McLaren driver Lando Norris.
Red Bull would like to sign Norris, who bagged his 15th career podium, in the future. But there’s little prospect of that happening for next year after he signed a new long-term deal in the off-season.
Broadly speaking, Perez has done a steady job so far. He’s second in the championship, 25 points behind Verstappen (who retired at the Australian Grand Prix last month) and nine ahead of Charles Leclerc.
Of course, Red Bull also have a say over the line-up at junior team RB. Part of the reason the team exists is to train drivers like Verstappen and Sebastian Vettel for a shot with the front-runners.
With Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda both in the final year of their deals, there’s a great deal of speculation swirling around RB too. And now we’ve had a major update on Red Bull’s plans.
Red Bull gearing up to promote one driver to F1 grid
According to The Mirror’s Daniel Moxon, Red Bull will ‘definitely’ give Liam Lawson a seat at RB for the 2025 season. 22-year-old Lawson impressed during a five-race stint behind the wheel last year when Ricciardo suffered an injury.
Christian Horner assured the New Zealander that he would get his chance after RB confirmed Ricciardo and Tsunoda as their 2024 line-up. Red Bull may be wary of losing him to another team if they confine him to a reserve role again next year, with Laurent Mekies admitting that it’s a ‘frustrating’ position.
As it stands, Ricciardo is the driver on the ‘chopping block’. The eight-time Grand Prix winner out-qualified Tsunoda for the first time all season at the Chinese GP but then his race unravelled.
After sustaining damage in a collision with Lance Stroll at a safety car restart, he was forced to retire from the race. To make matters worse, he’s received a three-place penalty for the Miami Grand Prix after passing Nico Hulkenberg during a full-course caution.
While there were long-awaited flashes of promise from Ricciardo in Shanghai, he ultimately left empty-handed. Tsunoda has still scored 100% of RB’s points this season.
Daniel Ricciardo tries to fight off mid-season Liam Lawson swap
Last year, Ricciardo was the beneficiary of a mid-season driver change at what was then AlphaTauri as the team axed Nyck de Vries and offered him an F1 lifeline. He’d lost his spot on the grid after McLaren dropped him for Oscar Piastri.
A year on, he could be the victim of such a swap. Ricciardo has gone from targeting a return to Red Bull to fighting for his drive at the junior team.
That reflects just how far he’s fallen short of expectations. And it also stems from the team’s excitement about Lawson.
There have been contrasting reports about Ricciardo’s level of vulnerability. One journalist claimed last week that ‘no one would be surprised’ if RB pulled the trigger.
But another insisted that his contacts in the paddock had played down any immediate threat to Ricciardo. Whether he has the full season or not, however, it’s clear that he has to improve.
Right now, we’re in a situation where three into two simply doesn’t go. In theory, Ricciardo could survive if Tsunoda moves up the chain, but Red Bull don’t seem ‘bothered’ by his impressive performances this year.
The post Report: Red Bull set to ‘definitely’ give 22-year-old his F1 chance in 2025, he’s ‘waiting in the wings’ appeared first on F1 Oversteer.