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Steiner considers Perez's replacement: 'I can see him getting that seat'
- Corwin Kunst
Guenther Steiner would not be surprised if Sergio Perez is indeed sent off in the summer break by Red Bull Racing. The 59-year-old Italian Swiss driver sees a suitable successor in Liam Lawson.
Perez is under heavy pressure and he has been told by team boss Christian Horner that he really needs to improve in Hungary and Belgium if he wants to finish the season alongside Max Verstappen. Helmut Marko also confirmed that he wants to see improvement from his second driver in the next two races.
Steiner would go for Lawson
"I consider it very likely that - if he does not improve in the races before the summer break - we might see someone else in the car after the summer break," Steiner said in The Red Flags podcast. The departed former team boss at Haas F1 calls Liam Lawson the "obvious candidate". "He is ready. He did well last year ... I can just see Lawson getting that seat if Checo doesn't do well in the coming races."
Another option is to pass on either Yuki Tsunoda or Daniel Ricciardo from sister team Visa Cash App RB. The former does not seem to need to consider that anyway, despite already scoring more points than Ricciardo this season. The Australian is a favourite of Horner's and would therefore have a better chance, but his results have not exactly been anything to write home about yet. At the same time, choosing Lawson also carries risks. There is a chance he will have nothing to bring against Max Verstappen in the second half of the season, which could hurt his self-confidence.
Comparison with Ricciardo
Steiner compares Perez's situation to Ricciardo's at McLaren a few years ago. "I think the car is pretty good. Checo is struggling at the moment. How many times has he finished second this year? Very often at the start of the season, but he has a bit of the same thing now as Danny Ric [Ricciardo] had at McLaren with Lando [Norris]. He's just struggling to keep up, it's a similar situation."
Perez has been on the podium four times this season. He did so in the first five races of the season. There were second places for the routine driver in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Japan. In China, he crossed the finish line in third place. After 12 GPs, his gap to Verstappen in the world championship is already 137 points.