Photo by Alex Bierens de Haan/Getty Images
The second seat at Red Bull will be a huge talking point this F1 season
Perhaps the biggest question facing Formula 1 in 2024?
Who will be Max Verstappen’s teammate in 2025.
Sergio Pèrez, who finished second to Verstappen in the Drivers’ Championship last season and helped the team to its second-straight Constructors’ Championship, currently holds that position. But Pérez’s future with the team is a huge question mark, given some of his struggles a season ago. The driver endured a five-race stretch early in the season where he failed to reach Q3 each week, opening the door to questions about his future with the team.
While he is under contract with Red Bull through the 2024 campaign, he is one of many drivers on the grid facing an uncertain future. Now, in a piece for F1 Unlocked, F1 analyst Lawrence Baretto outlines that while that seat is Pérez’s “to lose,” there is a driver that Red Bull senior management is eying for 2025.
Daniel Ricciardo.
As it stands, it is believed Ricciardo tops senior management’s list of suitable replacements. The Australian will need to get back to his very best this year, and with many insiders feeling his AlphaTauri team will make a big step forward this year in terms of competitiveness, there’s a strong chance he’ll deliver.
Ricciardo rejoined the grid midseason when AlphaTauri sacked Nyck de Vries, and a big reason for his return was a testing session at Silverstone that Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner described as “extremely competitive.” According to multiple reports, Ricciardo’s effort clocked times that would have put him on the front row for the British Grand Prix.
It seems we will not have to wait long for “silly season” this year, as it is already here.
