Helmut Marko once again heats up Sergio Perez’s seat for the upcoming season. The Red Bull consultant hopes to see a driver from the RBR academy alongside a four-time world champion Max Verstappen.
Helmut Marko confirms: in 2025, he hopes to see a Red Bull academy driver alongside Max Verstappen.
Sometimes, these are messages of sports politics. Other times, they are words that go beyond imagination, offering glimpses of what the future might hold. But the Red Bull consultant is always worth listening to. Of course, he needs to be interpreted, but he’s not the kind of person who speaks just for the sake of it.
Therefore, it’s understandable that Sergio Perez starts to seriously worry. Before the break, the Mexican was spared, as Daniel Ricciardo hadn’t been able to deliver good enough performances to lead the Milton Keynes team to bench the Mexican.
Backed by a two-year contract (actually one year plus an option for the second), Perez is far from safe. And now, with only a few races left, he will have to try to replicate as much as possible his excellent performance in Baku to avoid losing his seat at the start of 2025.
“I ideally hope that Max will be at Red Bull in 2025, and ideally with someone from our junior program,” Marko told ORF, the Austrian broadcaster. Few words. In this case, very few words, but a phrase full of meaning.
Liam Lawson, who will replace Daniel Ricciardo at Racing Bulls starting from Austin, will have just 6 races to show his worth. If he succeeds, then Max could have a new teammate. It will be a race between the two, where both Sergio Perez and Liam Lawson risk gaining everything but also losing just as much.
It’s the harsh law of Milton Keynes. The same law that burned talented drivers, including Sébastien Buemi, Jean-Eric Vergne, Jaime Alguersuari, Pierre Gasly, Daniil Kvyat, and Alexander Albon, just to name a few.
Lawson will have to make sure he doesn’t end up on the list just mentioned. If he manages to, not only will he be in Formula 1 next year, but he will do so with a team that can count on a multiple world champion like Verstappen, with aspirations of world titles, even though key figures in every role have been lost, especially starting from January of this year. It will be all or nothing. And only in December will we know who and how will be next to Max.
Leave a Reply