Translation:

Sergio Pérez’s underwhelming performance in Formula 1 in 2023 has exhausted RBR’s patience. After his latest - and terrible - results, the Mexican has been given an ultimatum by the Austrian team, sources exclusively told GE.globo: either he tries to secure the runner-up spot in the last five races of this year or he will be out of the team next season. If he doesn’t meet the target set by Christian Horner’s team, his replacement is already set: it will be 34-year-old Australian Daniel Ricciardo, who returned to F1 this year with AlphaTauri in place of Dutchman Nyck de Vries, who was sacked before the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Even with the best car on the grid this year, Pérez’s runner-up position is in extreme danger at the moment. The Mexican is only 30 points ahead of Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton, who is third in the Drivers’ World Championship. And it’s worth remembering that the seven-time champion hasn’t won a race in 2023, but has scored points in every race weekend this year. The Mexican, on the other hand, hasn’t even been able to keep pace with teammate Max Verstappen, the three-time Formula 1 champion with five races to spare. The Mexican currently has 209 points, 12 wins and eight podiums less than his teammate. All this with the same RB19 designed by Adrian Newey and Pierre Waché, considered one of the most dominant cars in the history of the category. a.

Max Verstappen and Sergio Pérez: the atmosphere at Red Bull hasn’t been the best since the 2022 Brazilian Grand Prix - Photo: Mark Thompson/Getty Images

It’s worth remembering that the relationship between Pérez and Verstappen has also been strained since last year, when the Dutchman accused the Mexican of crashing on purpose in Monaco qualifying and hindering his chances of scoring pole position - and Pérez won that race. It all came to a head at the São Paulo GP when, already champion, Verstappen refused to give up his position to his teammate, who was still in contention for the runner-up spot. The exchange of barbs began over the radio and ended in the post-race interviews. This year, Pérez said he was going to compete for the title on equal terms with his teammate and even started the season well. But since the Miami GP in May, when Verstappen humiliated his teammate on the track, the Mexican has never been able to perform the same way again.

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In addition to Daniel Ricciardo, who would once again have a seat in Formula 1’s top team, New Zealander Liam Lawson would be the beneficiary of this move. He made his debut somewhat by parachute in 2023, replacing the veteran Australian at AlphaTauri after an injury in practice for the Dutch Grand Prix. And he made a good impression: he made very few mistakes, scored points even with a bad car and annoyed his teammate, Japan’s Yuki Tsunoda. So much so that Ricciardo’s return was postponed a few times to allow him to recover 100% physically and to give more track time to the New Zealander, who had initially been confirmed as a reserve for 2024. With the possible departure of Pérez, the second starting seat at AlphaTauri could end up falling to Lawson, who has done well to deserve it.

Political feud: Helmut Marko in the hot seat

The Sergio Pérez issue, however, is not the only political turmoil going on behind the scenes at champions RBR. In fact, the team has been in turmoil since the death of Dietrich Mateschitz, co-founder of the energy drink manufacturer, in October last year. The tycoon’s shares passed to heir Mark Mateschitz, 31, and since then, the brand’s Thai shareholders have interfered more in the company’s direction than ever before. And it was obvious that this climate would carry over to the operation of the company’s two teams in Formula 1.

The tension between Christian Horner, head of RBR, and Helmut Marko, a consultant for the group and Didi Mateschitz’s former right-hand man in motorsport, has existed for a long time. But the power struggle has increased since the tycoon’s death. And Horner has been trying to get rid of Marko for some time in order to control the group’s Formula 1 operation as a whole. The Englishman already has a great deal of influence at AlphaTauri: he has been involved in most of the decisions about drivers and the change of managers - including the arrival of new CEO Peter Bayer, former executive director of the International Automobile Federation (FIA). Horner even wants to get rid of Yuki Tsunoda, a position that earns him a check for US$10 million from Honda, something that Marko has been trying to prevent in order to avoid future friction with the engine supplier, which controls the mapping and settings of the power units. power units.

Helmut Marko is in the hot seat in this arm wrestle. The former Austrian driver’s future within the Red Bull group will be determined at a meeting of the company’s board scheduled for this week. Another opponent of the consultant is Oliver Mintzlaff, currently responsible for the brand’s sports management, who joined the group after the death of Dietrich Mateschitz.

For the first time in many years, since the brand’s arrival in Formula 1 in 2005, Marko is in serious danger of losing his position within the energy manufacturer’s teams in the biggest category in motorsport. And if Christian Horner has his way, the veteran’s future will be a long way from RBR and AlphaTauri. Not even the reigning champions are immune to political crises. It’s not all flowers in the kingdom of Milton Keynes.