For a driver who supposedly started 2024 as a dead man walking – aged 34, in the final year of his contract and with a disorderly queue forming to steal his seat – Sergio Perez’s start to the season has been very encouraging.
Qualifying never has and never will be his strong point, but in every other respect Perez is doing everything Red Bull can ask of him right now – banking the points, acting as the perfect wingman to Verstappen and being right there to step up just in case Max runs into trouble.
He may still talk of targeting the title, but deep down has he finally made peace with the fact that the World Championship will never come his way as long as Verstappen is his team-mate?
A strong start to the season is nothing new for Perez at Red Bull, of course, and the evidence of the last couple of years suggests this still has the potential to go very wrong very quickly.
If the traditional mid-season slump does happen and Red Bull are tempted to start looking elsewhere after all, however, it is becoming increasingly clear that Daniel Ricciardo is in no fit state to step up as his replacement.
For all the pre-season optimism about the increased technical partnership with the senior team – and the prospect of a couple of early season podiums propelling Ricciardo a Red Bull return – not much appears to have changed at RB over the winter beyond the name.
The car remains only a fringe contender for points at best and Ricciardo continues to lag – sometimes by quite some margin – behind Yuki Tsunoda, following the trend of late 2023.
And if he can’t even handle Tsunoda these days, what chance would he have of living with Max?
Only a twist of strategic fate ensured he finished ahead of Tsunoda in Bahrain and, six days later, Yuki stuck it to him – going half a second faster in Q2 in Jeddah to underline his inherent and eye-opening pace advantage.
The most disturbing part of Ricciardo’s weekend, though?
That came in the closing laps when he spun all on his own at the first corner.
It was a cry for help, reminiscent of the random party-trick spins Sebastian Vettel, his former Red Bull team-mate, would throw in mid-race during those undignified final years of his career, each one hitting home just that little bit more that his powers had deserted him for good.
Far from being the answer to Red Bull’s Perez problem, Ricciardo now has the air of the classic F1 journeyman – merely making up the numbers and blocking a seat that could be put to better use by Liam Lawson, another of those young drivers touched by magic.
The Daniel of old? He’s gone. And on this evidence, he ain’t ever coming back.
A Red Bull return is a rapidly dying dream.
www.skysports.com
