Ralf Schumacher has said it would “make sense” for Red Bull to part ways with Sergio Perez if tensions continue to rise with Max Verstappen.
Former F1 driver Ralf Schumacher has suggested that Sergio Perez’s time with Red Bull could be over if tensions continue to rise with Max Verstappen as they both fight for the drivers’ championship.
The Austrian team has been dominating the 2023 season so far, winning all four of the races and having a 1-2 finish for three out of the four. The team find themselves with Verstappen’s main threat for the championship being his teammate Perez, with now just six points between them.
Many have likened the situation to that of 2018 when Verstappen and then-teammate Daniel Ricciardo took their rivalry too far on the track and ended up crashing into each other leading to a double-DNF for the team in Azerbaijan.
This is not the first time there have been reports of friction between Verstappen and Perez, so the team will be hoping to keep things calm on and off the track. With this in mind, Schumacher suggested in his latest column that the team have other options to replace the Mexican driver if tensions get too high. He wrote for Sky Sports Germany:
“There are many rumours circulating in the paddock about Perez’s future.
“Red Bull would have options: There’s Yuki Tsunoda, Daniel Ricciardo is still there and there are enough drivers on the market too.
“If there is a troubled relationship between Verstappen and Perez then it would make sense to part ways with the Mexican.
“If you look closely, you can see that the teammates don’t get along well. And if a team has two drivers who don’t harmonise with each other, then that’s a big disadvantage for the team in the end.”
Perez is currently in contract until the end of 2024 and although there could be increased tensions between the two drivers, the team will have no doubt learnt from the 2018 season with Verstappen and Ricciardo. Ultimately, this is the ideal situation for the Austrian team, but it will be interesting to see how the dynamic between the drivers plays out.
Source : Fan Nation
