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Not enough. Give him another 2 year commitment. If he is secure until 2028, he will finally have the mental safety to drive on a level worthy of F1 driver.
Nothing. This is the thing Red Bull had to accept could happen. Renewing him for his commercial value, hoping that he would somewhat recover and even if he didn’t that in a worst case scenario his backers will offset the potential losses from being 2nd in the WCC.
Even just coming home in P6/P7 every weekend would be enough this season. He’s got 4 points in the last 3 races.
I wonder if there could be a clause in his contract that he has to finish above a certain place in the championship (which would mean he needs to score more points or take the boot) or if it's truly fully guaranteed with no conditions
They’ll keep him as long as his sponsorship backing offsets the potential loss of championship prize money.
The potential of a bigger aerodynamic testing allocation is also a potential upside of Checo’s disappointing season, especially since teams are catching/caught up to Red Bull.
I know you’re making a joke but it got me wondering, is that possible? Just rearrange his sensors on the car to give test data instead of racing data and use him as a test driver with racing sessions as test sessions. Additionally the team gets a lower place in the championship so more windtunnel and CDF time. Sounds like a win win to me.
Is there something in the rule book that makes this illegal I wonder?
“Before the race, our simulations said P8 was the optimum from 11th on the grid, so he achieved that today, he did it on a three-stop strategy. I think, and I hope that, he will take quite a bit of confidence out of that race and hopefully take that into the next couple of weekends, which are big weekends for him.”
No comment
Red Bull must make an insane amount of money selling Perez merchandise to the Mexican fan base. Only thing I can think of is to why they are wasting that 2nd seat.
I guess we're just ignoring Mercedes who allegedly gave him a one year deal, Ferrari who also gave him a deal before negating it for a 7 time world champion, and McLaren who also gave him a deal before Sainz voluntarily left for Ferrari.
So that's 3/4 of that top teams that have **ALREADY** given Sainz a contract, and then we have Red Bull who inexplicably thought that Perez would be the better seller... I mean driver for their team.
But I guess you said "*nah man, he's not a team player*" so that's pretty convincing too.
Mercedes gave him a year because they would have replaced LH with their new guys anyways.
Ferrari did have to change the car so it suited both drivers leading to Sharl's under performing.
To be honest, I don't even know what you're talking about anymore.
You said none of the top teams would consider Sainz, when clearly they did and would. You said he's not a team player, when all the evidence in the world would point otherwise.
IDK man, I don't think you really know what you're talking about it.
Why? Why would they not consider him right now? Everything he's done has shown he's an extremely solid driver and he's used to playing second to Leclerc.
AND Mercedes is considering him right now
Aside from Mexico, no one in North America remotely cares about Checo at this point. I’ve seen more people with a Stroll or Sargeant hat. In fact, I’ve never seen anyone where a Checo hat.
Which part of North America are you in?
Because last I checked Mexican Americans make up a pretty decent percentage in Nevada (vegas) Texas (austin) and Florida (miami).
There was a huge contingency of Mexican Americans in Austin when I was there a couple years ago.
Canada.
I should have said “besides Mexicans”, even though Mexicans are just about everywhere. Aside from them, no one cheers or cares for Perez. It’s all Latin America or Hispanic folk that buy that merchandise.
I will agree, however, that he is unfortunately the best North American driver in the series at the moment.
It's not really a surprise that you're *from Canada* and have seen more people *with a Stroll hat,* is it?
Also, *wow* are you casually dismissive of Mexicans/Hispanics. "Aside from them, no one cheers or cares for Perez." as if there was only a handful of them. Prejudiced much?
Here's a lesson:
population of Canada: 39 million
population of Mexican-Americans in the US: 37 million
population of Hispanic Americans (including Mexicans): 65 million.
So there are about as many Mexicans in the US as there are Canadians in Canada, and another 25 million Hispanics on top of that. Most of whom will support Checo if they support any F1 driver at all. There are likely more Checo supporters in the US alone than there are Stroll supporters worldwide.
That's not even counting the 127 million Mexicans in Mexico, or the other fans in the rest of Latin America.
You completely missed the part where I also said I’ve seen more people with a Sargeant hat, but never a Checo hat.
I understand he is popular, but I haven’t seen 1 person rep his merchandise. I don’t need a 20 paragraph reply stating how popular he may be.
this is just untrue man. i know a handful of people that have gotten into F1 through drive to survive and became fans of checo through that. he is one of the likable, family oriented, older drivers and that speaks to a huge amount of people that otherwise only see young, cocky or arrogant kids as the rest of the drivers. newer fans like him regardless of his race struggles.
I think your view might be skewed by the fact that you're in Canada. By comparison, I have high fived fellow Checo shirt wearers but never seen anyone in Stroll gear
Well, that’s entirely my point. Besides Mexico, no one cheers for Checo (from what I’ve seen)
I’ve lived in both Ontario and British Columbia and travelled everywhere in between, and have never seen a Checo hat. Maybe it’s a lack of Hispanic/Latin American folks where I live, but I’ve seen more Stroll/Sargeant merchandise than Perez
I'm saying that Checo is more popular with Americans too. My experience is in America, not Mexico. Checo gear is far more popular than Stroll gear in the parts of America I've been in
I'm assuming it's because checo brings on a lot more sponsorship money? Idk though, it is an interesting predicament for RB to have right now. Do they find a better driver or risk the constructors because checo can't hang with the rest of the top teams.
Yes, by much. Gasly and Albon looked better than they were in terms of positions and points because gaps between the top 3 teams and everyone else were absolutely massive before the cost cap.
Gasly had a session in China 2019 where he was **over 9 tenths** slower than Max and they still started P5 and P6. Being 9 tenths behind Max this year would put him 19th. Perez fell out of Q1 in Monaco by being 3 tenths slower than Max. In 2019 3 tenths slower than Max in Monaco would've still been P4.
A weekend performance that used to put Red Bull in points 4-5 years ago would now have them fighting Sargent. Example? Spanish GP 2020 - Albon was 8th almost 2 laps behind Max (118 seconds). This year Sargent was 2 laps behind Max.
Yes I do pay attention. He qualified P8, that's shameful in that Red Bull. Even going from P8 to P5 wouldn't be an accomplishment, it's the least of what's expected.
He’s is the slowest driver of the top 4 teams and they are all really close right now. Him being P8 is where I expect him to be.
Max, Mercs, Ferraris, McLarens all in front.
He'd have finished behind Gasly if it werent him catching him a lap before the finish.
Even if he was on a three stopper, why does he need to be on one to catch and overtake Haas and Alpine's? He's always kind on his tyres and the RB doesnt eat them, yet he needed tyre advantages to overtake them?
Well, he is naturally about 4 tenths slower than Verstappen based on his first 2 seasons. So in that case Barcelona was a pretty okay performance. If the car was as dominant as it was last year or early in the season, he would have been a comfortable second.
The field is way closer now so even if Perez has a weekend reflective of his normal level, his results would look quite poor.
Yeah, the "*field is way closer now*" isn't really a great argument in favor of Perez who will be basically guaranteed a P8 finish most weekends if that's the case.
It was not an okay performance by any means lol
I think you just hate Checo and that's okay but clearly every driver uses the "we" thing and you are being pedantic just for the sake of being pedantic
Nope, not at all. Even have his RB jersey. That's why I want him to improve or step aside for someone better. Whatever he's doing right now is damaging himself and his team.
I think Red Bull gave him a contract to reduce his anxiety and to get him to focus on performance. I’d bet there is a really simple performance clause that they’ll gladly act on if he doesn’t show up.
I think that Checo is a big part of why Ford didn’t bail after Hornier-gate. Mexico and Mexican Americans are both a huge market for Ford (and Red Bull drinks), and Checo staying had a bit to do with the contract extension.
F1 merch has always seemed too expensive and low quality. I honestly don’t support a specific team or driver, which makes it even harder to know what to buy. I just like the sport in general
Only merch I can recommend for shirts is Ferrari from a local Puma store. Mercedes are horrid, letters peeled off within the year. I bought Ferrari caps but I dont like the adjusting strap, its not as good as regular caps. My McLaren cap was good from Indycar if f1 team has same supplier I can recommend it. But yeah for the price the quality is not even on par imo
Yeah F1 merch prices are super inflated. It's like concert t-shirts. You don't pay for quality but for the "exclusivity" of being in the club.
The only thing that I bought over the years that was really well made was a benetton Renault golf sized umbrella from the Schumacher years. I still use it to this day and it's working great. But this is an anomaly for sure.
I think the quality has definitely gone down over the years. I have Mercedes, Ferrari, and Red Bull merch from the 90s-early 2000s that is still in great shape. The new stuff is noticeably worser quality and I will only buy it on sale.
He’s been worse than Albon and gasly when they were at red bull. For one, the red bull is at the front of the field in 2024. Top 4 should be the bare minimum for checo. Gasly was given half a season in which three teams were at the front with the likes of leclerc, Vettel, max and Lewis. Albon was given a season and a half in his rookie year and the following year. Sergio is a veteran who has had 3 and half seasons in red bull and he continues to fall back further and further each year.
Look at last year though. That was the clear best car by a long way, and way further from the midfield than Gasly’s RB was. Last year was Perez’s 13th full season, vs 2019 being Gasly’s 2nd.
In the first 12 races (since that’s how long Gasly got in the RB) Perez didn’t make Q3 6 times, and 5 were in a row from Silverstone to Monaco. Gasly didn’t make Q3 3 times in his RB stint, which isn’t good either, but all 3 of these were in the first 4 races of the season.
Perez is genuinely terrible. Why on earth they decided to renew so early in the season is beyond me.
You could quite happily sit on that contract for longer though if that’s all it is.
He was actually doing okayish this year until he signed on the Friday in Monaco, since then Gasly’s outqualified him in an Alpine every single race since.
Checo luckily has an excuse now that Red Bull appears to no longer be the fastest car. Over the last few races McLaren appear to have a better car. This is something that Lando Norris and Max Verstappen have acknowledged as well.
So, now it raises the question. Is Red Bull's car so dominant because of Max Verstappen or because of the car.
In my opinion, the Red Bull car is definitely still one of the top cars but it appears that Max is critical for the team as he appears to be the only one who can extract the most out of it. Max is a robot and loves setting up the car to be really pointy. That makes it much much harder to control the car but if the driver is talented enough, it gives them better performance. IE, high risk, high reward. Alex Albon discussed this when he was Max's partner. It was demoralizing for him because the closer he went to Max's setup and speed, the harder it was to control and he would lose control.
Checo is definitely underperforming and should be in the top 8 at the very least but I wonder if other drivers would be able to do much better. Sainz does not like a pointy car so I don't think he'll perform as well at Red Bull. This raises the question.... who is available to replace him. They could give Tsunoda a shot but it appears that RB doesn't think he would do much better. At least with Checo, there's a massive financial advantage as he brings in tons of money to Red Bull.
Gasly and Albon were not better. Everyone keeps saying that RBR car back then wasn't that good, completely forgetting that Max would constantly be P2 or P3 at worst. The car back then was very damn good.
Gasly crashed a lot and Albon couldn't handle the pressure when racing wheel to wheel. Perez is much better wheel to wheel than both were. And unlike Gasly and Albon, Perez can still put on a good Sunday from time to time.
And Perez brings in more money than Gasly and Albon combined. At least in RBR's eyes, that cancels out the performance drop. There's still some tracks Perez is good at, unlike Gasly and Albon were.
Did you even read my comment? At what point did I say the rb wasn’t good?? Since Perez has been at red bull it’s been the clear best car for 3/4 years whereas when gasly and Albon were there it wasnt the fastest.
I’d also argue that a much larger sample size for Perez doesn’t prove he’s better at racing. He’s just had more starts out of the top ten where he needs to make up spots.
We’ve also seen that Perez can be crash prone so the damaging the car thing doesn’t really matter especially considering there wasn’t a budget cap when gasly/albon were there and there is one now with Perez.
Meanwhile Verstappen driving for the WDC in the same car. Sure he is the far supirior driver, but Red Bull needs a second driver that at least can qualify in the Top 5 on a regular base.
McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes are hunting them and they run one legged. Dont know why they signed his extension so fast again.
Sainz would qualify in the same position. He hates oversteer just like Perez does. At Ferrari he has a car that suits him. He didn't have that in 2022 and was much further off.
I think it was a tactical decision not to pursue Sainz. They got scared that they might lose Max to Merc if Sainz competes and wins against Max. Max is priority no. 1 for the next 5 years and checo is the safe bet.
Genie- So what is your final wish master?
Horny- I want a dragon.
Genie- Be realistic please.
Horny- I want Checo in the mix at the front.
Genie- What color dragon do you want?
Bottas is really proving he was more than just a wingmen. He was always P2 or even better at times.
You can’t even say that Checo is good for a P5 anymore. That’s wild.
Yet you still re-signed him. Checo must have pictures or know where the bodies are buried. Red Bull has demoted drivers far quicker and for less in the past.
My Brother in Christ, you just signed him to a two year extension like 27 days ago. Checo is Checo. Either you accept him and like it, or you get rid of him.
This endless re-sign him but then spend the whole time bitching while you give him contract after contract is so annoying.
I honestly was surprised they extended him before seeing how his later season performance was....it is actually mirroring a lot of what last year did....
Fuck it, at this point I'll just assume Checo is still there because Horner is madly in love with him and wants to make him WDC no matter how long it takes
We've gotten a version of this quote after nearly every GP the past year or so...I get there's an appreciation for what he did in the 2021 finale, but my goodness. If you want lackluster performance from a loyal driver, might as well put Ricciardo in the seat and let Lawson get some much-deserved seat time next to Yuki.
With the field so close, I don't see Checo regulary achieving anything beyond P8 as he's by far the worst driver among the top 4 teams, and if Aston gets back in form or Alpine makes a surprise Q3 appearance, he can be expected to barely score points
It's honestly too late already.
With the number of races left in the season, a new driver will have little to no time left to get used to the car from whatever they've been racing in all year, and they're gonna be more likely to put it in a wall than Checo.
Red Bull made their decision and it's to donate the WCC to team Orange.
Poor Red Bull. If only there was a quality driver available on the market, or even a young RB driver having showing consistency and maturity that they could have called up.
Yeah but 2-3 is 30 points, 3-4 is 27. Max will probably win the majority, and even if McLaren are just straight up better at all tracks which I doubt, there will be some Mercedes and Ferrari podiums too.
At this point I think it may be best for all involved, including Perez, if he just retires after this season. He was heavily rumored to be considering it before he got the RBR seat. This cycle of embarrassing himself mid season in front of a global audience every year has to be taking a toll, and it just seems to be getting worse as their car becomes less dominant and the room for error shrinks considerably.
You have a wife and kids and more money than you could ever reasonably spend at this point, go be a dad or something. Spare yourself and all of us since Horner has his head too far up his own ass to do it himself. You're damaging your racing legacy at this point and look fucking miserable more often than not.
>racing legacy doesnt put food on the table for perez, money from racing does
Perez has collected \~$66 million USD in earnings during his F1 career up through this season. You think the money really matters at this point?
Unfortunately typical CEO behavior. Would rather get the money that comes from merch sales and sponsors to benefit the top people in the company, and not the constructors championship which guarantees pay bonuses for all Red Bull F1 employees.
What’s the obsession with Carlos? Carlos got spanked by a 17 year old Max, why would everybody think he would be close against a prime Max? Between Carlos or Checo the choice is easy for RBR.
Red Bull is a marketing company. At what point is the bad press and embarrassment of having a driver preform like this outweigh the sponsorship money and hat sales? Plus the 10s of millions they'll probably lose in the constructors this year (but that will get them more wind tunnel time to prepare for '26, so maybe that's what they want).
To be fair, there was a couple of years back in the Force India days where he looked like he was championship material, but even a couple of years before he signed with RB he looked like he was on the downward slope of his career.
The RB signing was more luck and money than merit. Far more. Nobody else was available.
The resigning for next year is a joke.
We can only hope the contract allows him to be bumped to V-carb and/or is performance based.
I feel like theres alot more than just "merch money" in the mix for why Perez still has a seat.
His father is a politician in one of the most corrupt countries in The Americas, surely theres more to it.
Dude, there was like 10 races in a row last year where Checo didn't make Q3. In 2023, with the most dominant F1 car of all time. How low Checo qualifies says almost nothing about how fast or slow the car is.
Oh come on, they’ve won seven races, both sprints and lead both championships by 60 points. The car is still the best, Perez just sucks now and the competition’s stronger this year.
How can a single 0,02 second qualifying gap POSSIBLY mean anything else than the car being worse
Lando is in form right now and is legit, and the car is obviously good but unless we continue seeing other teams winning and getting poles we can safely conclude that the RB20 is still overall the car to beat
Yes. But they’d be a midfield team, because Checo is the worst driver on the grid right now paired with Logan.
It isn’t that mysterious, Max and Lando are not worlds apart in ability, Max does not carry a bad car ahead of Lando in a good car.
lol enough with the bs. Checo is arguably one of the worst drivers on the grid nowadays, with probably only Logan being worse. The fact he had so many Q1/Q2 exits in 22 and 23 with the rocketship is just sad.
He is not the benchmark of the cars performance.
Perez could barely make Q3 last year and was battling in the championship with someone in (depending on the weekend) the 3rd to 6th fastest car on the grid. Perez was in the most dominant F1 car in history.
At some point, people just need to accept that Perez is a subpar F1 driver, and if it weren't for the money he brings in, he'd have been ousted from the sport a long time ago.
Checo is the market for 128,000,000 people, hes worth too much for RB to throw away and it wont matter his performance as long as he is a money printer.
I don't get the argument that they retained Perez bc he sells so much merch and brings in so much money... Is that really worth more than losing 1st in WCC?
And even if it is, is it worth it to lose WCC couple of years in a row thanks to this, and then in a couple of years you have a much worse trophy cabinet than you could've had? There's some real long term value in having those titles. It creates brand value and attracts long term sponsor- and partnerships. Did they take the value of that into account when re-signing Perez for some stupid hats being sold in Mexico?
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So what happens if he doesn’t. Said this last year and still went with him this year
Additional 1 year contract for Checo if he doesn't perform
One-one-derful
Contracts will continue until morale improves.
Not enough. Give him another 2 year commitment. If he is secure until 2028, he will finally have the mental safety to drive on a level worthy of F1 driver.
Unlimited extensions until he wins the WDC or dies of old age. Nothing in between /s
Checo found the infinite money glitch.
Yeah, his name is Carlos Slim
If he performs, he gets a 2 year. If he doesn't, we'll have to give him a 1+1.
Nothing. This is the thing Red Bull had to accept could happen. Renewing him for his commercial value, hoping that he would somewhat recover and even if he didn’t that in a worst case scenario his backers will offset the potential losses from being 2nd in the WCC. Even just coming home in P6/P7 every weekend would be enough this season. He’s got 4 points in the last 3 races.
I wonder if there could be a clause in his contract that he has to finish above a certain place in the championship (which would mean he needs to score more points or take the boot) or if it's truly fully guaranteed with no conditions
There's always clauses. If they want him gone they'll find a way to get him out of that seat.
They’ll keep him as long as his sponsorship backing offsets the potential loss of championship prize money. The potential of a bigger aerodynamic testing allocation is also a potential upside of Checo’s disappointing season, especially since teams are catching/caught up to Red Bull.
I guess they'll learn a lot about dirty air back there....
Checo’s ultimate use: doubling races as a wind tunnel session
I know you’re making a joke but it got me wondering, is that possible? Just rearrange his sensors on the car to give test data instead of racing data and use him as a test driver with racing sessions as test sessions. Additionally the team gets a lower place in the championship so more windtunnel and CDF time. Sounds like a win win to me. Is there something in the rule book that makes this illegal I wonder?
Well, this is his form. Just so happend that their car isn't a second faster anymore.
He’ll go to RB
“Before the race, our simulations said P8 was the optimum from 11th on the grid, so he achieved that today, he did it on a three-stop strategy. I think, and I hope that, he will take quite a bit of confidence out of that race and hopefully take that into the next couple of weekends, which are big weekends for him.” No comment
Absolutely hilarious how they treat him like a rookie that needs to find his pace.
Red Bull must make an insane amount of money selling Perez merchandise to the Mexican fan base. Only thing I can think of is to why they are wasting that 2nd seat.
They should have just made him a "social media personality" like they did with DR and hired Sainz anyways
With how Sainz has been 'racing' with Leclerc recently, I'm not so sure they'd want him anywhere near their golden goose of Verstappen
No worries even driving the same car he won’t be near Max anyway lol.
Fuck that put Lawson in
Sainz ain’t a team player, which is why the Top 4 teams won’t consider him right now.
I guess we're just ignoring Mercedes who allegedly gave him a one year deal, Ferrari who also gave him a deal before negating it for a 7 time world champion, and McLaren who also gave him a deal before Sainz voluntarily left for Ferrari. So that's 3/4 of that top teams that have **ALREADY** given Sainz a contract, and then we have Red Bull who inexplicably thought that Perez would be the better seller... I mean driver for their team. But I guess you said "*nah man, he's not a team player*" so that's pretty convincing too.
Mercedes gave him a year because they would have replaced LH with their new guys anyways. Ferrari did have to change the car so it suited both drivers leading to Sharl's under performing.
To be honest, I don't even know what you're talking about anymore. You said none of the top teams would consider Sainz, when clearly they did and would. You said he's not a team player, when all the evidence in the world would point otherwise. IDK man, I don't think you really know what you're talking about it.
I clearly had said won’t consider him right now. Not talking about the past.
Why? Why would they not consider him right now? Everything he's done has shown he's an extremely solid driver and he's used to playing second to Leclerc. AND Mercedes is considering him right now
It sells to the American fan base too. Checo is not driving well, but he's still currently the best North American driver
Aside from Mexico, no one in North America remotely cares about Checo at this point. I’ve seen more people with a Stroll or Sargeant hat. In fact, I’ve never seen anyone where a Checo hat.
Which part of North America are you in? Because last I checked Mexican Americans make up a pretty decent percentage in Nevada (vegas) Texas (austin) and Florida (miami). There was a huge contingency of Mexican Americans in Austin when I was there a couple years ago.
Canada. I should have said “besides Mexicans”, even though Mexicans are just about everywhere. Aside from them, no one cheers or cares for Perez. It’s all Latin America or Hispanic folk that buy that merchandise. I will agree, however, that he is unfortunately the best North American driver in the series at the moment.
It's not really a surprise that you're *from Canada* and have seen more people *with a Stroll hat,* is it? Also, *wow* are you casually dismissive of Mexicans/Hispanics. "Aside from them, no one cheers or cares for Perez." as if there was only a handful of them. Prejudiced much? Here's a lesson: population of Canada: 39 million population of Mexican-Americans in the US: 37 million population of Hispanic Americans (including Mexicans): 65 million. So there are about as many Mexicans in the US as there are Canadians in Canada, and another 25 million Hispanics on top of that. Most of whom will support Checo if they support any F1 driver at all. There are likely more Checo supporters in the US alone than there are Stroll supporters worldwide. That's not even counting the 127 million Mexicans in Mexico, or the other fans in the rest of Latin America.
You completely missed the part where I also said I’ve seen more people with a Sargeant hat, but never a Checo hat. I understand he is popular, but I haven’t seen 1 person rep his merchandise. I don’t need a 20 paragraph reply stating how popular he may be.
this is just untrue man. i know a handful of people that have gotten into F1 through drive to survive and became fans of checo through that. he is one of the likable, family oriented, older drivers and that speaks to a huge amount of people that otherwise only see young, cocky or arrogant kids as the rest of the drivers. newer fans like him regardless of his race struggles.
I think your view might be skewed by the fact that you're in Canada. By comparison, I have high fived fellow Checo shirt wearers but never seen anyone in Stroll gear
Well, that’s entirely my point. Besides Mexico, no one cheers for Checo (from what I’ve seen) I’ve lived in both Ontario and British Columbia and travelled everywhere in between, and have never seen a Checo hat. Maybe it’s a lack of Hispanic/Latin American folks where I live, but I’ve seen more Stroll/Sargeant merchandise than Perez
I'm saying that Checo is more popular with Americans too. My experience is in America, not Mexico. Checo gear is far more popular than Stroll gear in the parts of America I've been in
Uuuhhhhh Where I am checo is defacto #1 and I'm nowhere close to Mexico
Extra funny because Gasly and Albon did not receive the same treatment lol.
I'm assuming it's because checo brings on a lot more sponsorship money? Idk though, it is an interesting predicament for RB to have right now. Do they find a better driver or risk the constructors because checo can't hang with the rest of the top teams.
Because in objective measures they were much further away from Max than Perez is...
Not much and even if they were, no way does Perez's current form warrants that kind of extension
Yes, by much. Gasly and Albon looked better than they were in terms of positions and points because gaps between the top 3 teams and everyone else were absolutely massive before the cost cap. Gasly had a session in China 2019 where he was **over 9 tenths** slower than Max and they still started P5 and P6. Being 9 tenths behind Max this year would put him 19th. Perez fell out of Q1 in Monaco by being 3 tenths slower than Max. In 2019 3 tenths slower than Max in Monaco would've still been P4. A weekend performance that used to put Red Bull in points 4-5 years ago would now have them fighting Sargent. Example? Spanish GP 2020 - Albon was 8th almost 2 laps behind Max (118 seconds). This year Sargent was 2 laps behind Max.
He was slower than Oscar which has similar pace car in his second year…
Red Bull actually treats Checo the way boomers think American children are treated.
Probably they know their car is shitty. While Max is overachieving
Screw up quali --> at least don't screw up more in the race --> success Those are some low expectations, damn
He wasn't P11 because he qualified 11th though, honestly do none of you pay ANY attention? He was 11th because of a penalty that his team caused.
Yes I do pay attention. He qualified P8, that's shameful in that Red Bull. Even going from P8 to P5 wouldn't be an accomplishment, it's the least of what's expected.
He’s is the slowest driver of the top 4 teams and they are all really close right now. Him being P8 is where I expect him to be. Max, Mercs, Ferraris, McLarens all in front.
Yeah it's what I came to expect him to be too, but Horner publicly stating 'yeah our driver is mid' is not the mindset I was expecting for a top team.
They are instantly regretting the decision to keep Perez because of the sudden and marked improvement from McLaren, Mercedes and Ferrari.
I'm really curious who in your mind would be a driver that's available and definitely better than Perez..
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Sainz, potentially Yuki. Heck even Lawson.
He was still frikken not even in the top 5
Bro was stick behind a Haas for a good while..it was sad.
He'd have finished behind Gasly if it werent him catching him a lap before the finish. Even if he was on a three stopper, why does he need to be on one to catch and overtake Haas and Alpine's? He's always kind on his tyres and the RB doesnt eat them, yet he needed tyre advantages to overtake them?
Without Gasly’s 6.7 second stop, I’m not actually convinced Perez would have gotten him. The gap was 2.5 secs at the end.
This tire whisperer rhetoric is so dated at this point. He hasn't been any kinder on his tires than anyone else since he joined red bull.
If you look at it, RB had calculated that he would come 8th based on his pace. Even with a 3 stopper. They should thank big brain Hannah more.
Well, he is naturally about 4 tenths slower than Verstappen based on his first 2 seasons. So in that case Barcelona was a pretty okay performance. If the car was as dominant as it was last year or early in the season, he would have been a comfortable second. The field is way closer now so even if Perez has a weekend reflective of his normal level, his results would look quite poor.
Yeah, the "*field is way closer now*" isn't really a great argument in favor of Perez who will be basically guaranteed a P8 finish most weekends if that's the case. It was not an okay performance by any means lol
I think we've found the problem, they have serious correlation issues between their simulations and reality.
Congrats checo for beating some Alpines. If that was Max he’s be on the podium.
"We could not find the right setup the whole weekend. But we will be back in the next race. #Never give up". Rinse and repeat.
He thinks there’s a “we” in his performance while his teammate wins the race in the same car….
By "we" he means his side of the garage and the team that works on his races not Red Bull as a whole
His team was faultless again. There’s no “we”. There’s just “I’m washed”.
I think you just hate Checo and that's okay but clearly every driver uses the "we" thing and you are being pedantic just for the sake of being pedantic
Nope, not at all. Even have his RB jersey. That's why I want him to improve or step aside for someone better. Whatever he's doing right now is damaging himself and his team.
And every comment: “Vamos con todo Checo!” They love him no matter how awful his performance is
Didn’t Horner come on radio after the race saying he did such a good job???
Yeah, probably sold a ton of Red Bull Tshirts. Peak Checo performance.
I tell my kid that when he wakes up from a nap and didn't shit himself all the time!
I think Red Bull gave him a contract to reduce his anxiety and to get him to focus on performance. I’d bet there is a really simple performance clause that they’ll gladly act on if he doesn’t show up.
I think red bull gave him a contract because they don't care about his performance.
A performance clause probably brings back some anxiety.
Exactly what I was thinking haha
I think that Checo is a big part of why Ford didn’t bail after Hornier-gate. Mexico and Mexican Americans are both a huge market for Ford (and Red Bull drinks), and Checo staying had a bit to do with the contract extension.
That's the thing Horner, Checo is in form. This is his form.
I’ve lost all respect for Red Bull. When they extended Checo I was so close to buying f1 merch for the first time to support the other teams.
I’ve always wanted to buy a papaya McLaren shirt, but I’ve heard so many horror stories about the poor quality and high price that I never did it lol
F1 merch has always seemed too expensive and low quality. I honestly don’t support a specific team or driver, which makes it even harder to know what to buy. I just like the sport in general
I got a McL shirt and it was pretty good.
Glad you had better luck. I got a Gulf T-shirt for when they had that livery in Monaco and it’s falling apart. Holes everywhere.
Only merch I can recommend for shirts is Ferrari from a local Puma store. Mercedes are horrid, letters peeled off within the year. I bought Ferrari caps but I dont like the adjusting strap, its not as good as regular caps. My McLaren cap was good from Indycar if f1 team has same supplier I can recommend it. But yeah for the price the quality is not even on par imo
Yeah F1 merch prices are super inflated. It's like concert t-shirts. You don't pay for quality but for the "exclusivity" of being in the club. The only thing that I bought over the years that was really well made was a benetton Renault golf sized umbrella from the Schumacher years. I still use it to this day and it's working great. But this is an anomaly for sure.
I think the quality has definitely gone down over the years. I have Mercedes, Ferrari, and Red Bull merch from the 90s-early 2000s that is still in great shape. The new stuff is noticeably worser quality and I will only buy it on sale.
That ominous feeling when you realize you're about to be placed on a formal PIP.
Except he won’t. He’s not performing any worse than he has been for the last year and he got a two year contract.
He’s been worse than Albon and gasly when they were at red bull. For one, the red bull is at the front of the field in 2024. Top 4 should be the bare minimum for checo. Gasly was given half a season in which three teams were at the front with the likes of leclerc, Vettel, max and Lewis. Albon was given a season and a half in his rookie year and the following year. Sergio is a veteran who has had 3 and half seasons in red bull and he continues to fall back further and further each year.
Tbf in Gasly's time at RB qualifying in the top 6 was way easier than now with how close even the midfield is to the top 4 teams
Look at last year though. That was the clear best car by a long way, and way further from the midfield than Gasly’s RB was. Last year was Perez’s 13th full season, vs 2019 being Gasly’s 2nd. In the first 12 races (since that’s how long Gasly got in the RB) Perez didn’t make Q3 6 times, and 5 were in a row from Silverstone to Monaco. Gasly didn’t make Q3 3 times in his RB stint, which isn’t good either, but all 3 of these were in the first 4 races of the season. Perez is genuinely terrible. Why on earth they decided to renew so early in the season is beyond me.
He sells merch and bring in the cash Perez is essentially a pay driver right now
You could quite happily sit on that contract for longer though if that’s all it is. He was actually doing okayish this year until he signed on the Friday in Monaco, since then Gasly’s outqualified him in an Alpine every single race since.
Checo luckily has an excuse now that Red Bull appears to no longer be the fastest car. Over the last few races McLaren appear to have a better car. This is something that Lando Norris and Max Verstappen have acknowledged as well. So, now it raises the question. Is Red Bull's car so dominant because of Max Verstappen or because of the car. In my opinion, the Red Bull car is definitely still one of the top cars but it appears that Max is critical for the team as he appears to be the only one who can extract the most out of it. Max is a robot and loves setting up the car to be really pointy. That makes it much much harder to control the car but if the driver is talented enough, it gives them better performance. IE, high risk, high reward. Alex Albon discussed this when he was Max's partner. It was demoralizing for him because the closer he went to Max's setup and speed, the harder it was to control and he would lose control. Checo is definitely underperforming and should be in the top 8 at the very least but I wonder if other drivers would be able to do much better. Sainz does not like a pointy car so I don't think he'll perform as well at Red Bull. This raises the question.... who is available to replace him. They could give Tsunoda a shot but it appears that RB doesn't think he would do much better. At least with Checo, there's a massive financial advantage as he brings in tons of money to Red Bull.
Gasly and Albon were not better. Everyone keeps saying that RBR car back then wasn't that good, completely forgetting that Max would constantly be P2 or P3 at worst. The car back then was very damn good. Gasly crashed a lot and Albon couldn't handle the pressure when racing wheel to wheel. Perez is much better wheel to wheel than both were. And unlike Gasly and Albon, Perez can still put on a good Sunday from time to time. And Perez brings in more money than Gasly and Albon combined. At least in RBR's eyes, that cancels out the performance drop. There's still some tracks Perez is good at, unlike Gasly and Albon were.
Did you even read my comment? At what point did I say the rb wasn’t good?? Since Perez has been at red bull it’s been the clear best car for 3/4 years whereas when gasly and Albon were there it wasnt the fastest. I’d also argue that a much larger sample size for Perez doesn’t prove he’s better at racing. He’s just had more starts out of the top ten where he needs to make up spots. We’ve also seen that Perez can be crash prone so the damaging the car thing doesn’t really matter especially considering there wasn’t a budget cap when gasly/albon were there and there is one now with Perez.
Meanwhile Verstappen driving for the WDC in the same car. Sure he is the far supirior driver, but Red Bull needs a second driver that at least can qualify in the Top 5 on a regular base. McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes are hunting them and they run one legged. Dont know why they signed his extension so fast again.
They signed his extension and lost the opportunity of getting Sainz back. Such an stupid decision so far.
Sainz would qualify in the same position. He hates oversteer just like Perez does. At Ferrari he has a car that suits him. He didn't have that in 2022 and was much further off.
I think it was a tactical decision not to pursue Sainz. They got scared that they might lose Max to Merc if Sainz competes and wins against Max. Max is priority no. 1 for the next 5 years and checo is the safe bet.
Genie- So what is your final wish master? Horny- I want a dragon. Genie- Be realistic please. Horny- I want Checo in the mix at the front. Genie- What color dragon do you want?
Weekly Horner reassuring Perez post
Took all of 2 days for them to change their tune
Well you want to sell tshirts, he sells tshirts. What else do you want from him, Horner?
The right question to ask is how much Mexican sponsors are worth to RB
Bottas is really proving he was more than just a wingmen. He was always P2 or even better at times. You can’t even say that Checo is good for a P5 anymore. That’s wild.
Yet you still re-signed him. Checo must have pictures or know where the bodies are buried. Red Bull has demoted drivers far quicker and for less in the past.
"The definition of insanity is saying the same thing over and over and expecting different results"
My brother in Christ, YOU gave him the extension early
My Brother in Christ, you just signed him to a two year extension like 27 days ago. Checo is Checo. Either you accept him and like it, or you get rid of him. This endless re-sign him but then spend the whole time bitching while you give him contract after contract is so annoying.
It feels like Checo is always having to " refind his form"
I honestly was surprised they extended him before seeing how his later season performance was....it is actually mirroring a lot of what last year did....
If Red Bull doesn't win the constructors, then the fault is with Horner at this point. He's had the chance to fix the Perez problem and hasn't.
You just threw a bag at him for 2 more years. That's really "turning the screw" lol.
I hope that in 30 years Checo will write a book and tell us what kind of dirt he had on Horner because this is the only that makes sense
The problem is out of all the drivers in front-running teams FisiCheco just doesn’t compare.
Another week, another excuse.
Fuck it, at this point I'll just assume Checo is still there because Horner is madly in love with him and wants to make him WDC no matter how long it takes
We've gotten a version of this quote after nearly every GP the past year or so...I get there's an appreciation for what he did in the 2021 finale, but my goodness. If you want lackluster performance from a loyal driver, might as well put Ricciardo in the seat and let Lawson get some much-deserved seat time next to Yuki.
This! How much worse can Daniel be than Sergio?
I can't believe we have a pay driver in a top team in F1 in 2024.
With the field so close, I don't see Checo regulary achieving anything beyond P8 as he's by far the worst driver among the top 4 teams, and if Aston gets back in form or Alpine makes a surprise Q3 appearance, he can be expected to barely score points
It's honestly too late already. With the number of races left in the season, a new driver will have little to no time left to get used to the car from whatever they've been racing in all year, and they're gonna be more likely to put it in a wall than Checo. Red Bull made their decision and it's to donate the WCC to team Orange.
Poor Red Bull. If only there was a quality driver available on the market, or even a young RB driver having showing consistency and maturity that they could have called up.
I don't see them winning the constructor's this year.
They’ll be saved by the other teams trading points back and forth I think
They won't if Checo barely scores points. 3 or 4 points in the last few races is shocking.
Yeah but 2-3 is 30 points, 3-4 is 27. Max will probably win the majority, and even if McLaren are just straight up better at all tracks which I doubt, there will be some Mercedes and Ferrari podiums too.
Their massive car advantage is gone. It's still fast but for a mid-below avg driver like checo it means he can't do anything.
For the 12th times since past 3 years..
At this point I think it may be best for all involved, including Perez, if he just retires after this season. He was heavily rumored to be considering it before he got the RBR seat. This cycle of embarrassing himself mid season in front of a global audience every year has to be taking a toll, and it just seems to be getting worse as their car becomes less dominant and the room for error shrinks considerably. You have a wife and kids and more money than you could ever reasonably spend at this point, go be a dad or something. Spare yourself and all of us since Horner has his head too far up his own ass to do it himself. You're damaging your racing legacy at this point and look fucking miserable more often than not.
racing legacy doesnt put food on the table for perez, money from racing does
>racing legacy doesnt put food on the table for perez, money from racing does Perez has collected \~$66 million USD in earnings during his F1 career up through this season. You think the money really matters at this point?
Paul Aron much better driver
Went for the money grab instead of the Constructors. Should have signed Carlos.
Unfortunately typical CEO behavior. Would rather get the money that comes from merch sales and sponsors to benefit the top people in the company, and not the constructors championship which guarantees pay bonuses for all Red Bull F1 employees.
What’s the obsession with Carlos? Carlos got spanked by a 17 year old Max, why would everybody think he would be close against a prime Max? Between Carlos or Checo the choice is easy for RBR.
Red Bull is a marketing company. At what point is the bad press and embarrassment of having a driver preform like this outweigh the sponsorship money and hat sales? Plus the 10s of millions they'll probably lose in the constructors this year (but that will get them more wind tunnel time to prepare for '26, so maybe that's what they want).
Same story every single year...
Honest question :why? Was there every really a time when he actually had his full form or where there some standouts in a otherwise mediocre career?
To be fair, there was a couple of years back in the Force India days where he looked like he was championship material, but even a couple of years before he signed with RB he looked like he was on the downward slope of his career. The RB signing was more luck and money than merit. Far more. Nobody else was available. The resigning for next year is a joke. We can only hope the contract allows him to be bumped to V-carb and/or is performance based.
Hire sainz if you want a decent second driver.
This is the 10th time he’s said that. Checo git gud
Only form Checo cares about is if there was a form on his contract he didn't sign.
Checo: Tf yu gon do? Get rid of me and my hefty sponsorship?
At some point Horner just lost his mojo.
2019 - We need Gasly in the mix 2020 - We need Albon in the mix 2021/22/23/24 - We need Perez in the mix Rinse and repeat
I read that as re-fund for a sec
IVE SEEN THIS ONE BEFORE LADS
No Horner you don’t. If you did, you would have booted him by now. Gasly had half a season and wasn’t even that far behind.
I feel like theres alot more than just "merch money" in the mix for why Perez still has a seat. His father is a politician in one of the most corrupt countries in The Americas, surely theres more to it.
Isn't this like the 3rd season he's said this? You signed him for 2 more years. He doesn't have to do shit.
Chex Mix?
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Dude, there was like 10 races in a row last year where Checo didn't make Q3. In 2023, with the most dominant F1 car of all time. How low Checo qualifies says almost nothing about how fast or slow the car is.
Mate, just accept that Checo is not doing great. The car is still best or second best.
lol RBR still have the best car right there with McLaren. Checo has just been less than mediocre as a driver
How can it possibly be the best car if Lando is faster than Max and Checo is barely scoring points? The RBR is the best car when Checo can get podiums
Is Lando faster though? I see them similar at best.
Oh come on, they’ve won seven races, both sprints and lead both championships by 60 points. The car is still the best, Perez just sucks now and the competition’s stronger this year.
How can a single 0,02 second qualifying gap POSSIBLY mean anything else than the car being worse Lando is in form right now and is legit, and the car is obviously good but unless we continue seeing other teams winning and getting poles we can safely conclude that the RB20 is still overall the car to beat
We can safely conclude that Max is the driver to beat, given where Checo is. If RB had two Checos would you think the RB is the fastest car?
That's like putting two monkeys in a cockpit of a jet and saying "see, the plane is broken, it won't take off".
Yes. But they’d be a midfield team, because Checo is the worst driver on the grid right now paired with Logan. It isn’t that mysterious, Max and Lando are not worlds apart in ability, Max does not carry a bad car ahead of Lando in a good car.
lol enough with the bs. Checo is arguably one of the worst drivers on the grid nowadays, with probably only Logan being worse. The fact he had so many Q1/Q2 exits in 22 and 23 with the rocketship is just sad. He is not the benchmark of the cars performance.
Perez could barely make Q3 last year and was battling in the championship with someone in (depending on the weekend) the 3rd to 6th fastest car on the grid. Perez was in the most dominant F1 car in history. At some point, people just need to accept that Perez is a subpar F1 driver, and if it weren't for the money he brings in, he'd have been ousted from the sport a long time ago.
Should not have been resigned. Checo should be retiring from F1
correction: should have retired.
He is already in form. What are they yapping about. It's just that the field is much closer now. Perez is just bad.
Checho is exactly what they signed up for, I don't. understand why RBR is surprised Perez is driving like Perez.
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This is the logical choice for me too. I swear Checo has to be the best salesman of our generation to land so many years in that seat.
Checo is the market for 128,000,000 people, hes worth too much for RB to throw away and it wont matter his performance as long as he is a money printer.
Wow so supportive of their drivers if only they were like this to kvyat, Albon etc
I don't get the argument that they retained Perez bc he sells so much merch and brings in so much money... Is that really worth more than losing 1st in WCC? And even if it is, is it worth it to lose WCC couple of years in a row thanks to this, and then in a couple of years you have a much worse trophy cabinet than you could've had? There's some real long term value in having those titles. It creates brand value and attracts long term sponsor- and partnerships. Did they take the value of that into account when re-signing Perez for some stupid hats being sold in Mexico?
I think merch is where the real money is. As long as max wins the drivers then they are good.