During the BBC Q and A, the topic of Adrian Newey’s potential move to Ferrari along with will Perez and Redbull part ways.
Feature Image: Redbull Content Pool
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Perez and Redbull
It was safe to say the Sergio Perez was on the bubble last season, with Max Verstappen dominating the Drivers Championship and securing the Constructors Championship single-handedly, it brought the Mexican’s performance over the course of the season into focus.
Luckily for Redbull, Sergio’s lacklustre performances didn’t effect the title challenge, however this weekend at the Imola GP reminders of the Mexican’s past inconstancies were brought back to the fore.
Sergio’s performances at the start of this season have been good finishing second behind Max in three of the first four races, however Perez was unable to capitalise on Max’s retirement at the Australian GP and he performed poorly at Miami and Imola, the latter looking more loke Perez of 2023, with poor mistakes during the weekend, at one point ending up in the gravel. Capping off a poor weekend Sergio only managed to qualifying in 11th (Verstappen secured pole) and managing only eighth place in the GP on Sunday.
Redbull’s Conundrum
With the field beginning to close up on Redbull, the need for a more reliable wing man is becoming more important. At the Imola GP Max qualified in pole with Piastri second and Norris in third. Fortunately for Redbull Piastri was handed a 3 place grid penalty for impeding, which stopped McLaren from driving strategically against Max. With Sergio Perez down in 11th it would be difficult for Redbull to hold off the McLarens especially with how much pace Lando Norris had in the latter stages of the Grand Prix.
But what can Redbull do? Do they stick with Sergio knowing what they have or do they attempt to replace him? The only free agent at the minute is Carlos Sainz, who is making way at Ferrari for Lewis Hamilton, Sainz was part of the Redbull driver pool and partner to Verstappen, where there was tension between the two.
Does Newey Guarantee Success?
In the run up to the Miami GP weekend Adrian Newey confirmed that he was leaving Redbull after almost 20 years with the team, it was confirmed that he would depart in the first quarter of 2025.
A detail of the departure was the agreement to cancel his No Compete Clause that was reported to be around 12 months, leading to speculation that he may be looking to join another team sooner rather than later.
If you were to look back at Adrian Newey record it is clear to see why teams would love to have them in their garage. Newey has won a championship with every team that he has worked with.
It is very clear that Formula 1 is collaborative, even Adrian can’t do it all on his own, the legendary aerodynamicist is also quick to praise the team around him. That said, Newey brings that something “special” that will undoubtably elevate any team that works with him.
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