Christian Horner: Perez has nothing to fear for his place at Red Bull

The question arose after Sergio Perez’s nightmarish new qualifying session on Friday at the Austrian Grand Prix: Will he make it to the job at Red Bull Racing? In other words, should the team replace him? Christian Horner, this weekend’s home racing team manager and managing director of Red Bull Racing, answered no.

Checo is safeHorner cut on Sky Sports. Everyone is left behind, his replacement is irrelevant.”

The Mexican has been absent from Q3 for four meetings, only once on the podium (in Miami) since his victory in Baku on April 30. The Mexican doubled the mistakes in practice, and no later than Friday in Styria, where he had three laps canceled for his overtaking. Track limits failed him badly in Q2, with a 15th-place finish on the starting grid from Round 9 of the World Cup.

But fortunately for him, as Christian Horner points out, the AlphaTauri Knights are not impressing this season. Yuki Tsunoda doesn’t show the expected progression despite having a third year at the highest level, and his teammate Nyck de Vries, last qualifier, still worries without risking his wheel. “There is no plan to replace Nyck de Vries at the moment, you have to give this kind of guy time.”Still on Sky Sports, Christian Horner explained.

So Red Bull sees no immediate demands for Perez’s succession, and a more serious candidate, Liam Lawson, must in any case pass through AlphaTauri, the Red Bull Racing B team, in 2024 before looking for a higher level.

New Zealander Liam Lawson, who finished third in Formula 2 in 2022, is already the one with the edge. And Ayumu Iwasa of Japan, who is currently third in Formula 2, could also be an option.