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For Sergio Perez's sake, Red Bull needs to replace him with Daniel Ricciardo after the 2023 F1 Mexican GP. Yes, you heard it right! The time has come for the team to pull the trigger and for the Mexican's sake, and it's better to do it as early as possible.
This weekend will be Perez's home race, his third as a Red Bull driver. He's been on the podium in 2021 and he didn't have a good race last season. The driver has struggled quite a bit this season and it almost comes as a surprise because this year's Red Bull has been the most dominant car built by the team in a while.
Having said that, since the race in Baku, something has not clicked. Perez has struggled massively in Qualifying. He's found it hard to keep up with Max Verstappen and as a result, Ricciardo's name as his replacement has been doing the rounds.
For Perez's sake, however, Red Bull needs to replace the Mexican after the race this weekend.
What extra will we learn in 4 races that we haven't in 18?
The most important question that Red Bull has in front of it is the hope that Sergio Perez can fulfill the role for which he is a part of the team.
That role entails qualifying close to Max Verstappen for the races and then proving to be his wingman in races and helping bring a '1-2' finish for the team. In all fairness, it's been a while since Verstappen achieved that, and it's been a while since he fulfilled the role for which he was chosen by Helmut Marko and Christian Horner.
At this stage, we're 18 races into the season and what hasn't happened in so many races cannot magically happen now. The reality of Perez is that this is the level at which he's going to perform, there are going to be a few peaks and troughs in between but no substantial difference from what we can see right now.
Finally, if this level is not good enough there is no point continuing with Perez anyway and it's better to bring the change as early as possible.
Better to give Daniel Ricciardo as much time as possible on the new car
Secondly and probably something that Red Bull needs to think long and hard about is the fact that Daniel Ricciardo is the only option they have in mind right now. There's no one else who is even in contention.
Expecting the Australian to prove something in what would be a five-race stint in AlphaTauri is meaningless. Unless Ricciardo blitzes Yuki Tsunoda completely in these five races (which would be a hard thing to do), there won't be any definitive conclusion to that rivalry.
It is at this stage that Red Bull needs to bite the bullet. The team brought Daniel Ricciardo back because it saw something in that test. Now it is time to back the driver and take the gamble because it has already been established that Sergio Perez cannot fulfill the role he has been assigned.
Most importantly, the last three races won't really add much value to Ricciardo at AlphaTauri, those three races at Red Bull, however, will give him a first-hand idea of the car and what he can expect in the future.
Firing Sergio Perez now gives him a chance to get a seat for next season
Now, finally coming to the most important point is the fact that Red Bull needs to take this decision early because it needs to give Sergio Perez an opportunity to find another seat. Twice in his career, the Mexican has been left stranded at the end of the season without a seat.
In all likelihood, Perez is not on a Red Bull contract that will demote him to an AlphaTauri next season. If that happens it will still be a consolation of sorts but it might not. On the other hand, if Red Bull opts not to put him in an AlphaTauri and give the seat to Liam Lawson then Perez won't have a seat.
This happened to Perez in 2013 when McLaren fired him at the end of the season and it happened in 2020 as well when he was replaced by Sebastian Vettel.
It's never a good thing to have such a situation where you are looking at an uncertain future. It's better to allow the Mexican an opportunity to find a seat for his future, especially with a seat at Williams up for the taking.
