On June 4th, 2024, Red Bull and Sergio Perez agreed on terms to a two-year deal to see him through the 2026 season, which at the time Sergio Perez sat a pretty 5th place, one point behind Carlos Sainz and a 26 point lead over 6th place Oscar Piastri. Since this contract signing, Perez has only made Q3 two out of the previous 5 races and finishing in the top 10 in the previous 3 out of 5 races. Today we will go over three potential replacements for Perez and if it’s even possible for Red Bull to terminate his contract early.

Sergio Perez Contract

• To put it simply, yes, Red Bull can terminate this contract if Perez isn’t performing to one of the rumored performance clauses that is in the contract that he recently signed in June.
• The rumored contract clause is he needs to have 165 points by the summer break, and even if he were to win the race the weekend with the fastest lap, he would not be reaching that rumored contract clause.
• Another rumored contract clause is that he needs to be within 5 places in the points standings to his teammate (Max Verstappen, currently 1st with 265 points) so if those contract clauses turn out to be true, Red Bull will have the option to pay Perez out for the rest of his contract and sign either of these three drivers.

Yuki Tsunoda

Yuki has continued to provide solid finishes for the Visa Cash App RB Team netting a team high of 22 points this season and sitting 12th in the standings.

• Yuki Tsunoda in his 4 years in Formula 1, Yuki has always scored more then 10 points and netting a career high 32 points in his rookie season in 2021
• This season, seems to be Yuki’s best yet with already having 22 points this season, just 10 behind his career high.
• Out of 13 races, Yuki has made Q3 eight of those races, turning six of those into points paying races.
• Out of 76 career races so far, Yuki has scored points in 24 of those races.

So the only reason i can think that Red Bull wouldn’t want Yuki in the seat is his attitude and anger but that has gotten far better throughout his time in F1. Yuki just signed a contract to keep him extended till 2025 in the RB family, will Red Bull think he’s ready for the big second seat?

Daniel Ricciardo

Daniel Ricciardo has been in Formula 1 since 2011 and has never failed to show us why he’s the man, with 8 race wins and giving us multiple memorable moments in the 2010’s era, Daniel is still showing us why he’s the man for the job, coming into the RB seat, he’s still showing he can bring home points.

• Daniel Ricciardo has an impressive 8 wins to his resume with his most recent one coming in Monza with Mclaren and most notably his most memorable one in Monaco with the Red Bull Team. Daniel has shown he can still win in the right equipment.
• Since his rookie season, Daniel has never failed to score points in a Formula 1 season, his best season was in 2016 with 1 win, 16 top 5’s, and 256 points scored.
• Daniel Ricciardo has reached Q3, three out of thirteen races this season and turning two of those into points paying races (11 points this season)

So compared to Yuki, he may not be the man for the job with points and qualifying appearances but he does have experience in that Red Bull car, and with that testing session to bring him to RB, he was 4 tenths off the fastest lap at Silverstone, he can definitely still drive that thing.

Liam Lawson

Liam Lawson has completed a couple of testing sessions for Red Bull and has also competed in 5 races in 2023 for Alpha Tauri (Now Visa Cash App RB) we will go off his results in 2023 in F1 and his results in 2022 F2

• Liam Lawson in his 5 F1 starts finished in the points once and reaching Q3 in one of those appearances.
• Lawson had a stellar comeback drive in Zandovort coming back from 20th and finishing 13th
• Lawson finished 3rd in 2022 Formula 2 Championship with 149 points, with 3 wins and 7 podiums.

So Lawson may not have the huge resume compared to Yuki and Daniel but he is young and has drive and determination to be that second Red Bull driver, will Red Bull take a chance on their young guy with very little F1 experience, or Yuki Tsunoda, who’s young and could be a world champion one day, or does Red Bull go with the Veteran in Daniel Ricciardo with his 8 race wins. I guess we will all find out during this summer break.