He probably could but I'm not sure the regs allow 2 different cars. I seem to recall the FIA won't even allows 2 different liveries on the same car - think it was British America that wanted both cars different. They where forced to have the 2 cars the same but left and right different branding.
Now there is a rumour around the place that has it that if Checo does not manage to seal P2 in the Drivers’ Championship, which is something that Red Bull Racing have never done and something that Christian Horner and Helmut Marko value very highly this year, then they will have to have a serious think as to whether Checo indeed does stay within his contract for next year, or whether they have a proper conversation with Checo about whether he is actually going to be able to improve for next year, This topic just won`t go away.
Do we think Checo's contract is the same as most of the 'Red Bull' drivers (excluding Max I would guess) where as they are not directly contracted to drive for either team but can be given a drive when senior management like? It might be very easy for Red Bull to move Checo to Alpha Tari without any breaches in contract or payoffs? Then again is Danny doing well enough to move up to Red Bull?
I think that is merely a pretext to the inevitbale. If he does manage it by the skin of his teeth (with zero support btw) then he will still be gone
I think Perez will get another year, albeit only because it's late in the year and there's no obvious replacement. There's only Ricciardo and it's been three years since he last consistently looked like a top driver. Buying out Norris's contract was an option earlier in the year, but he's in such a good place as the lead McLaren now that signing up to be Max's teammate would be slightly mad. Perez will be gone for 2025 though for sure
I think that’s a strong possibility. I do still think Albon might be an option, but it does depend I expect on him wanting to make the move. It’s interesting that everybody was after the second seat at Merc when Bottas was wasting it, but no-one is angling for a plum RedBull seat.
Albon would be wrong to take a second shot at RBR. He is the golden boy where he is and the team are rising. There is a lot of satisfaction in that as their lead driver. At RBR he would only ever be a compliant team mate to Max. At the moment he goes to sleep with a clear mind, at RBR he would feel frustration. Stay at Williams and maybe get Mercedes drive in the future.
Albon and the second Merc seat (when Hamilton retires)...now that makes a lot of sense. Every driver knows the RB second seat is a poisoned chalice. You're driving a car honed to Max's specific driving style, and the moment you're more than 25 points behind Max, your car upgrades, race strategy, etc will all be sacrificed to help Max as much as possible, whilst you get dragged in the media and publicly threatened with a demotion to a backmarker Alpha Tauri seat. You'll likely land a few podiums and might fluke a race win, but you'll be burnt out and spat out within a season or two. Then if you're young enough to rebuild your career, it'll take you several seasons (Sainz, Gasly, Albon), or if you're an older driver it could be a career ender? I think Perez gets another season then they hope Tsunoda is ready, the only other driver I think has a chance of a RB seat is Alonso, because he'll believe he can win a title there against Max, with the cards stacked against him. Or if they need a stopgap #2, Hulk probably matches Perez for performances and would consider a season there a success if he finally gets a podium. I can't imagine Haas putting up too much resistance to him leaving. Who else is there with any chance of being both available and interested? Lando, Piastri, Sainz, Leclerc, Russell, Hamilton all back their team to make enough of a step forward that they stand a better chance of results and career longevity at the top where they are, over the second RB. Gasly, Albon know failing again at RB probably stops them ever getting a top seat again. Ocon? Teamwork issues probably put RB off. Nobody else on the grid is an obvious improvement on Perez.
Red Bull are having bodyguards for Verstappen in Mexico.The bad feeling was already on show in Austin,Texas.
I definitely see reasons for people to be wary of the second RedBull seat, but it’s the contrast - in the last 6 years - between people obviously angling for the second Merc seat - which was very much the same situation, except the level of public support - and now that I find puzzling. Many younger drivers, most overtly Lando, but also Albon, Leclerc, Sainz, seem really deferential towards Max, which initially I’d put down to a generational shift, which seems a lot less adversarial than before, but it’s playing out not just in the media, but apparently also in the way they are managing their careers. Wolff spent years answering questions on and off about replacing Bottas with Alonso, Vettel etc. (despite the fact that they obviously wouldn’t), but Horner doesn’t get the same despite the fact that they are openly touting their dissatisfaction with their second driver (i.e trying to flush out interest) in the press.
Christian Horner: Red Bull team boss to attend F1 car launch amid investigation https://www.bbc.com/sport/formula1/68300849 Will be interesting to see how the inevitable(?) questions are handled. I have no love for Horner, but it will be completely appropriate for him (and everyone at Red Bull) to say that there's a standard process and there'll be no further comment until the process has concluded. Still, I'm mildly surprised that he'll be attending. They must have had plenty of internal discussions about that, and decided it's better for him to attend than to stay away, having compared the pro's & cons of both options. Anyway, looking forward to get the pre-testing circus & distractions out of the way, so the actual cars can get out on track.
Well I would assume they can't be too serious about giving him the boot if he's attending. Let's see how chummy he, Helmut and Jos are.
With any luck, RedBull will launch a zero-pod concept tomorrow, saying they’ve found a second of lap time with it but that it took two years for them to understand how to optimise the concept. Irrespective of whether they still have it or not come testing, it would make the remaining days till then exciting.
the post side pod shows some clear changes the side pod is dipping down sooner at the back as seen by the oracle brand this upper channel bulge is clearly bigger. this is vegas car please log in to view this image
You think it has similarities to the Merc? That was my initial thought (caveat being that it’s a low res image to make such a sweeping conclusion!). There’s some massive convergence this season at first glance.
