Red Bull has reportedly told Sergio Perez that Daniel Ricciardo will replace him if he finishes worse than P2 in the 2023 championship  

Since the fisrt major upgrade of RB19 everything went downhill for Sergio Perez at Red Bull.

Red Bull has reportedly told Sergio Perez that Daniel Ricciardo will replace him if he finishes worse than P2 in the 2023 championship  

Daniel Ricciardo, Sergio Perez and Helmut Marko (Via IMAGO)

Sergio Perez came to the 2023 season with the hopes of fighting Max Verstappen for the title. He has a solid start to the season that saw him winning two races. But once the primary upgrades were made to the RB19, he started losing confidence in the car, affecting his form. The thing went from bad to worse after the summer break as he failed to get to Q3 consistently and was struggling to secure even top-5 finishes.

Perez is currently in the second spot in the driver’s standings with 224 points. The gap between Lewis Hamilton [at 194 points] and him keeps shortening. The 30-point gap between the two racers seems too uncomfortable for Red Bull, considering Verstappen has won 14 of the 17 races of the season in the same car.

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The team, especially the team boss Christian Horner, has given an ‘ultimatum’ to Sergio Perez, as reported by Globo.com. Though he has a contract lasting until the end of 2024, the reports suggest that if Perez fails to finish P2 this season, he could be fired in 2023. Daniel Ricciardo seems to be the replacement of choice for Red Bull, especially with his history with the team.

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Speculations started within the paddock that the Mexican racer might announce his retirement at his home grand prix, the Mexico City GP. Although a source dismissed these rumors, they claimed they were false and ‘absolutely not going to happen’.

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Daniel Ricciardo might make the Red Bull comeback he is desperate for in 2024

Being in Red Bull, Ricciardo won seven races before signing a contract to join Renault in 2019. In Renault, Ricciardo could only gather a sole win at the Monza circuit in Italy. Ricciardo Later he went on to join McLaren in 2021 after a ‘not-so-successful’ stint with Renault. Ricciardo was unable to win at McLaren either.

Horner and Ricciardo
Christian Horner and Daniel Ricciardo (Credits: Getty)

Ricciardo was later moved to Red Bull as a reserve driver after leaving McLaren. But due to the poor performance of rookie Nyck De Vries, Ricciardo joined Alphatauri as his replacement mid-season. But he soon got injured at the Dutch GP and had to sit out for five race weeks. He is set to return to the US GP at COTA.

Now, all that is left is for Perez to show his performance, showing that he still deserves the spot at Red Bull. But the possibility that Perez would likely walk out cannot be ruled out either, as Red Bull already has a replacement ready. He is also well aware of the threat to his spot due to his performance.

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