F1 | Red Bull: a void remains behind Verstappen

In the space of a few days, Sergio Perez went from the joy linked to the renewal of his contract with Red Bull to the worst race weekend of 2024. In the assessments that emerged in the aftermath of the Canadian Grand Prix, the two events merged into a single question : but why did Helmut Marko and Christian Horner still focus on Checo?

And from here other questions arise. Is it possible that over the course of three and a half years the Red Bull nursery has not been able to propose at least one candidate worthy of a chance? And why was the possibility of having Carlos Sainz or Fernando Alonso in the team set aside?

In the past Helmut Marko has been criticized for his very harsh, sometimes cynical choices, an operating mode that never allowed for a second chance. The team’s interest has always been above all else, at the cost of sacrificing the careers of drivers who at that moment were not able to guarantee the team what it needed.

Many drivers still in Formula 1 have paid the price, from Carlos Sainz to Pierre Gasly, as well as Alexander Albon. With the arrival of Perez, things have changed, and quite a lot, with an approach that clashes greatly with what we have seen in the past and which can only raise other questions.

There is a precise moment in which the change of direction took shape: the rise of Max Verstappen to the role of an indispensable factor for the team’s success. It can be dated to 2021, Perez’s first year in the team, as well as the season in which the Mexican played an important role in Max’s run towards his first world championship title. But in reality Max’s role within Red Bull had already grown considerably, the team had immediately grasped his potential and the awareness of having an increasingly less rough diamond in their hands led to a change in attitude.

In the direct confrontation with Verstappen, Ricciardo, Gasly and Albon were ‘burned’, then with the arrival of Perez (end of 2020) four years of stability began, which will become five next season. The positive aspect of this policy is that since then Red Bull has left nothing by the wayside in terms of objectives, so the results continue to be on the side of Marko and Horner. But at the same time the team has become increasingly Verstappen-dependent. In the past Marko always had the next move in hand, so it happened when Sebastian Vettel left the team to join Ferrari, via Seb came Ricciardo, and while the Australian was growing here was the arrival of Verstappen.

Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

Today there is no plan ‘B’, and when in recent months Max hinted that it would not be the contract (expiring at the end of 2028) that would keep him in the team, many in Milton Keynes trembled. The nursery is barren, the only internal candidate for a Red Bull seat is Yuki Tsunoda, who among other things arrived at the request of Honda.

The Japanese has grown a lot, but still appears far from being able to take on the role of leader of Red Bull. Behind him is a potentially good driver, Liam Lawson, but with a long way to go.

The new talents that have emerged in the last seven or eight years have not worn the uniform of the Red Bull Junior Team, for years the pride of Marko and the Austrian group. Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Oliver Bearman, and before them George Russell, Oscar Piastri, Charles Leclerc, Lando Norris, were careful not to accept offers (which arrived promptly) from Marko. The idea of ​​entering a Verstappen-centric system, in which the risk of being burned was a real possibility, convinced young people with more proposals on the table (usually the best ones) to look elsewhere.

The change of direction is so clear that it is increasingly similar to an all-in, as long as Verstappen guarantees his presence in the team the contraindications of the Red Bull policy will remain hidden, and this suits Marko, the supporter of Perez’s renewal, perfectly well.

Everything is done in Max’s name, ignoring the fact that the day Max decides to move on, he will remain an empty shell on the drivers front. But this is of little interest to Verstappen and even less to Marko, aware that he will not spend a single day in Red Bull from the moment ‘his’ Max has to say goodbye to everyone and go elsewhere.