Who is Red Bull’s best solution for its Perez problem

Today Red Bull are celebrating their 20th year in Formula 1 with a special event at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.

Max Verstappen has been joined by team mate Sergio Perez plus RB drivers Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda among others as they celebrate two decades of competition during which they’ve won the constructors’ championship six times.

But despite its strong start to 2024 the team is concerned the championship could slip away from them this year. McLaren have consistently chipped into their lead over the past half-dozen races.

There’s no mystery about which half of Red Bull’s driver pairing is failing to deliver. Over the past six races Perez has scored just 15 points – less even that Haas driver Nico Hulkenberg.

Red Bull extended Perez’s contract to drive for them a month and a half ago. But team principal Christian Horner admitted that weekend that Perez’s poor contributions to their points tally is not a sustainable situation. But the best solution to that problem is far from clear-cut.

Stick with Perez

Although Perez’s results have been poor of late, he reached the podium four times in the first five races. The temptation to stick with him in the hope he can suddenly rediscover his lost form – and avoid the humiliation of dropping a driver Red Bull re-signed mere weeks ago – will be strong.

But as Horner acknowledged, Perez is aware of the pressure he faces, and that is rarely something which helps a driver produce their best.

“Of course Checo is under pressure,” Horner told media including RaceFans at Silverstone. “That’s normal in Formula 1 and when you’re under-delivering that pressure only amounts. And he’s aware of that, he knows that.”

“He knows it’s unsustainable to not be scoring points,” Horner added. “We have to be scoring points with that car and he knows that. He knows his role and his target and so nobody is more eager than Checo to get back.”

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Promote Tsunoda

Ordinarily the most obvious candidate for promotion to Red Bull would be whichever driver is performing best at their junior team RB. Yuki Tsunoda, 12th in the championship on 20 points, would seem to be a likely solution.

“Yuki’s a Red Bull Racing driver, he’s on a Red Bull Racing contract and signed him because he’s been performing well,” said Horner. “So we’re very aware of his…