Who will take the second Red Bull seat? 'Not many choices'
F1 News
With Max Verstappen's seat secured, the question remains: who will race alongside the world champion? His current teammate, Sergio 'Checo' Perez, is hoping for a contract extension. On The Red Flags podcast, former Haas team boss Guenther Steiner has questioned whether the Mexican driver is the right partner for Verstappen, and who else could be the ideal fit for the Austrian team instead.
Current world champion Verstappen is in contract with Red Bull until 2028, unlike his teammate who finds himself out of a contract at the end of the season. Whilst reports have suggested that Perez wishes for a two-year contract extension, it seems like the Austrian team might only be prepared to offer him one. For Steiner, he has questioned why the team doesn't give someone else a chance: "It's one of these questions I ask myself sometimes. It's like why don't you give another guy a chance? He's doing a fantastic job. Now it looks like Perez is renewed for next year."
Who could replace Perez at Red Bull?
Perez joined Red Bull in 2021, finishing 5th on his debut with the team. In 2022, shortly after his win in Monaco, the team revealed he had signed to stay until the end of 2024. That year, he had his best season in F1 with two wins, one pole position, 11 podiums, and three fastest laps. 2023 was another strong season for the Mexican, who finished second in the Drivers' standings behind his teammate Verstappen. Throughout his career he has been compared to his teammate, and with his performance this season, Steiner is confident "Red Bull is not winning the Constructors' Championship."
As Steiner shared, there are other potential candidates who could take that second seat at the championship winning team. "You've got options out there like Sainz. Albon was out there, obviously now he's not because he has signed for Williams," Steiner said. The former Haas boss also argues that for Red Bull to remain competitive, Christian Horner needs to find two teammates on a similar level, like Ferrari and McLaren have: "They have a better set up with the drivers. I always say Checo is not a bad driver, it's just the others are more close together as drivers."
Nevertheless, nothing has been confirmed yet. It has been made clear that Red Bull have had discussions with other drivers, like Carlos Sainz, as Helmut Marko admitted. However, Steiner is concerned that with the way the driver market is, there aren't too many choices left for the team: "Maybe the attitude changes by not having a dominant car anymore because you need both drivers to score points. Aside from Carlos, I don't think there's many choices out there anymore."
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