Perez, The Elephant in the Room??

[TheDeuce]

thegreenhell said:

Horner says it was Perez's own decision to step down and take a sabbatical. Hilarious.

https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/it-was-his-choi...

Perhaps he made the decision just after he was told they won't be paying him anymore

[Frimley111R]

Despite being a nice but not very quick guy he lasted longer than this predecessors. I do wonder how well the next incumbent will do...

[Wills2]

I watched the interview with him on SKY, hilarious from Horner, we sat down with Sergio and he fired himself, yeah OK Christian...

[vaud]

thegreenhell said:

Horner says it was Perez's own decision to step down and take a sabbatical. Hilarious.

https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/it-was-his-choi...

Well it was probably an offer to save face. "Taking a sabbatical" vs "We are firing you". The former sounds better for all.

[Tindersticks]

Liam Lawson confirmed in the 2nd seat

[thegreenhell]

Inevitable. Poor Yuki must be fuming.

[24lemons]

If Red Bull are still dominant next year I’d love for Max to have a team mate who will push him all the way. Sadly given Red Bulls track record with the number 2 seat I fear he won’t and I hope Lawson doesn’t get chewed up and spat out like so many others.

[vaud]

24lemons said:

If Red Bull are still dominant next year I’d love for Max to have a team mate who will push him all the way. Sadly given Red Bulls track record with the number 2 seat I fear he won’t and I hope Lawson doesn’t get chewed up and spat out like so many others.

I think it will be more "can he adapt his driving to a car designed around Max's style"... if so then it could be interesting, but I suspect Max will maintain dominance in the team.

[Smollet]

Tindersticks said:

Liam Lawson confirmed in the 2nd seat

I just hope he drives against Max like he did against Perez. Should he good for some major toy -throwing by Max

[TikTak]

thegreenhell said:

Inevitable. Poor Yuki must be fuming.

This really. Don't think Lawson has done enough either personally.

Is it time for Yuki to look at getting out of that RB 'family'?

[Megaflow]

thegreenhell said:

Horner says it was Perez's own decision to step down and take a sabbatical. Hilarious.

https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/it-was-his-choi...

Surely nobody actually believes anything Horny says? If he told me it was daytime I'd look out a window to check.

Tindersticks said:

Liam Lawson confirmed in the 2nd seat

Commiserations.

TikTak said:

thegreenhell said:

Inevitable. Poor Yuki must be fuming.

This really. Don't think Lawson has done enough either personally.

Is it time for Yuki to look at getting out of that RB 'family'?

Yes. The only reason he is there is because of Honda, he will be out at the end of 2025 or shortly after anyway.

[Muzzer79]

TikTak said:

thegreenhell said:

Inevitable. Poor Yuki must be fuming.

This really. Don't think Lawson has done enough either personally.

Is it time for Yuki to look at getting out of that RB 'family'?

Yuki will end up at Aston Martin in some capacity in 2026, following the Honda engine supply.

Big question is whether Honda will accept Stroll Jr driving the second car instead of their man, who is clearly faster. Interesting times ahead

I agree that Lawson hasn't shown enough, but Red Bull didn't really have a choice if they don't rate Tsunoda enough.

It's a sorry state of affairs for RB's young driver programme that they're now chucking inexperienced drivers into the main team and seeing if they swim, aswell as the second team.

Mind you, Lawson isn't the first in this regard - let's hope he doesn't suffer an Albon-like fate.

[Wills2]

Smollet said:

I just hope he drives against Max like he did against Perez. Should he good for some major toy -throwing by Max

Yes it would be great to see that, but we've got no chance of that happening.

[Presuming Ed]

People do understand that its rare staff get fired these days. A compromise agreement was drawn up and Horner has to tow the company line. Hardly lies and shows a bit of class.

Or maybe people would prefer for Perez to be thrown under the bus so they can get their kicks.

[LivLL]

It’s not rare for F1 drivers to lose their seat at all, happens all of the time.

[thegreenhell]

LivLL said:

It’s not rare for F1 drivers to lose their seat at all, happens all of the time.

It is more rare for them to lose their seat before even starting the contract extension period they've only recently just signed, though.

"Sergio, would you like to drive for us for another two years?"
"Yes please, Christian."
"You're fired."

[Muzzer79]

I think the point is that there's no need for Horner to come out in the press and say

"Yes, well you know - Sergio has been very poor in the second half of the year so we've decided to fire him and bring another driver in"

That is being honest, but it doesn't do Sergio any favours and doesn't paint the team in the best light either.

Horner's press comments, whether they are the truth or not, allow Perez some dignity and the ability to manage the narrative - not least with his sponsors.

Everyone knows the truth behind it - but it doesn't need to be said.

[Muzzer79]

thegreenhell said:

LivLL said:

It’s not rare for F1 drivers to lose their seat at all, happens all of the time.

It is more rare for them to lose their seat before even starting the contract extension period they've only recently just signed, though.

"Sergio, would you like to drive for us for another two years?"
"Yes please, Christian."
"You're fired."

We fans always want F1 to be a meritocracy - the best of the best.

The downside of that is that if you don't perform, you end up in Perez's situation.

He can't really have any complaints - he had a top three/four car at minimum and since the San Marino GP in May he has scored just 46 points in 18 races, with a best finish of 6th. Just not good enough.

[Jayho]

TikTak said:

thegreenhell said:

Inevitable. Poor Yuki must be fuming.

This really. Don't think Lawson has done enough either personally.

Is it time for Yuki to look at getting out of that RB 'family'?

I'm just not sure he's got enough appeal to be picked up by another team outside of the family. He's got a huge Japanese following and he is a handy driver, but he's not had the chance at the top RB team and he's not as marketable as you'd like.

I personally don't think RB have treated him all that fairly. He's managed to get what he needs to get out of the sister team and has matured a lot in terms of his driving over the last season or 2. To be overlooked for someone who's probably not even had a full season of races in the sister team will be a hard one to swallow. I think they should have thrown Yuki in there and set a number of reasonable goals. If he doesn't hit the targets by midway through the season then swap him out for Lawson.

[Leithen]

The only takeaway for me from this whole sorry affair is, how bad must have been the internal stshow at Red Bull that they gave Perez a new contract apparently without performance clauses?

Perez’s very experienced manager seems to have played an absolute blinder.