Horner And Marko Appear At Odds Over Sergio Perez’s Future At Red Bull
It feels like we’ve got a little bit of a parenting crisis at Red Bull, with two very important figures in the team’s well-oiled machine giving completely different answers on Sergio Perez’s future. Parents bicker, but eventually, they need to be on the same page. Someone think of the children! ��
Earlier this week, it was reported in an article published by Kleine Zeitung that Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko had admitted that Sergio Perez was actually in danger of losing his F1 seat for 2024.
He said that “nothing is 100% certain” in F1 and that “performance-related situations” always need to be discussed. He then doubled down on these comments in Zandvoort, telling Sky Germany that Red Bull would like to keep him on, “but he needs to perform for that.”
Perez’s future has remained uncertain for a little while, with many fans believing that bringing Daniel Ricciardo into AlphaTauri was a way of gearing him up to replace Checo in 2024. But, those involved with Red Bull kept denying they were even looking at options – until now.
However, Christian Horner completely contradicted Helmut’s comments after Sunday’s Dutch GP. He told the media, including The Race: “Checo’s situation for next year is clear.
“He’s a Red Bull Racing driver, we have an agreement with him, irrelevant of agreements, we’re pleased with the job he’s doing, saw his drive today, was unlucky with pitlane speedometer today.
“He’s second in the world championship. Only driver other than Max to have won grand prix’s this year.
“It’s easy to beat up on him when the barometer is so high on the other side, but he will be our driver in 2024.”
This isn’t the first time Helmut Marko and Christian Horner have “disagreed” either – even earlier this year, it was reported that Helmut vouched quite hard for Nyck de Vries to drive for AlphaTauri this season, whereas Horner didn’t really want him. Look how that turned out. ��
Checo is contracted with Red Bull until the end of 2024, but before his back-to-back podiums leading up to the summer break, he wasn’t in the best form and consecutively failed to make Q3 in qualifying five times. But it’s to be remembered he is still P2 in the championship.
Will Red Bull honour Sergio’s contract for 2024 – or will he be pushed out?
