Red Bull may be ‘seriously evaluating’ Daniel Ricciardo to replace Sergio Perez

Red Bull bosses could be “seriously evaluating” Daniel Ricciardo as a candidate to steal Sergio Perez’s drive for 2024, according to Will Buxton. The F1 presenter also suggested Ricciardo may alternatively just be being used to put pressure on Perez to up his performances and make the Mexican think he is under threat.

Perez has struggled in recent races with the 33-year-old knocked out of Q1 for the third time this season at the British Grand Prix. As Ricciardo’s return to AlphaTauri was confirmed, Buxton tweeted: “To me it screams of the wider play and that’s about putting pressure on Perez to sort himself out.

“No point rushing [Ricciardo] back early solely to prep for AT in 24. Either they’re seriously evaluating him for RBR 24 or want Checo to think that they are.” Buxton later added: “It shouldn’t be a surprise if Ricciardo ends up back at RBR. No lineup since his departure has been as strong as him and Max. How the rest of the field could shake up makes for an intriguing bit of mental gymnastics.

“Lawson to AT makes complete sense as a strong option for 24 As for Checo, how about a dream return to team Silverstone alongside Alonso at Aston?”

Perez has a deal in place until the end of the 2024 campaign but Red Bull bosses could pay him off to bring in a replacement. De Vries was axed immediately despite having what was considered to be a “multi-year” deal with AlphaTauri, Red Bull’s sister team.

It is understood Ricciardo secured a race return after impressing on a test day just days after the British Grand Prix.

The eight-time race winner is believed to have set a time that would have been good enough to qualify on the front row of the grid for Sunday’s race.

Sky Sports host Ted Kravitz has claimed Perez will be concerned about Ricciardo’s race return.

He told the Sky Sports F1 Podcast: “I think it makes Sergio Perez check the terms of his contract to see if it’s as leaky as Nick de Vries’ contract with Red Bull obviously was. If he is amazing, then Checo will be pretty worried actually.

“Even though Checo brings a lot of sponsorship and there are a lot of merchandise opportunities, the selling of Red Bull stuff in Mexico to Mexican fans… he may well be worried if Red Bull decide to go the Ricciardo way If he turns out to be the man who turns AlphaTauri around.”