Guenther Steiner thinks Sergio Perez might be replaced by Red Bull Racing during the summer break. He believes Liam Lawson could take his place.
Perez is under a lot of pressure, and Christian Horner has told him he must do better in Hungary and Belgium to stay with Max Verstappen for the rest of the season. Helmut Marko also wants to see improvement from Perez in the next two races.
Steiner would go for Lawson
On The Red Flags podcast, Steiner mentioned, “I consider it very likely that – if he does not improve in the races before the summer break – we might see someone else in the car after the summer break.” He sees Liam Lawson as an “obvious candidate” and added, “He is ready. He did well last year … I can just see Lawson getting that seat if Checo doesn’t do well in the coming races.”
Another option could be Yuki Tsunoda or Daniel Ricciardo from Visa Cash App RB. Even though Tsunoda has more points than Ricciardo this season, Ricciardo is favored by Horner but hasn’t shown great results yet. Choosing Lawson comes with risks too; he might struggle against Verstappen, which could hurt his confidence.
Comparison with Ricciardo
Steiner compared Perez’s situation to Ricciardo’s time at McLaren a few years ago. “I think the car is pretty good. Checo is struggling at the moment. How many times has he finished second this year? Very often at the start of the season, but he has a bit of the same thing now as Danny Ric [Ricciardo] had at McLaren with Lando [Norris]. He’s just struggling to keep up, it’s a similar situation.”
Fans might think this news isn’t surprising given Perez’s recent performance.
Perez stood on the podium four times early this season: second places in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and Japan; third place in China. But after 12 GPs, he’s already 137 points behind Verstappen.
What do you think will happen? Will Perez stay or go?
