Red Bull star issued UNDESERVING claim as Perez replacement verdict given

A former Formula 1 insider has suggested that Sergio Perez's replacement at Red Bull is not deserving of the seat alongside Max Verstappen.

Liam Lawson has been picked over former VCARB team-mate Yuki Tsunoda to make the step up to the main team, with Perez having confirmed earlier in the week that he would be taking a sabbatical from F1.

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Lawson has only raced in 11 grands prix across his career so far, in comparison to Tsunoda's four full seasons as a full-time F1 driver.

However, 22-year-old Kiwi Lawson is seen by the Red Bull hierarchy as having more potential and has therefore been picked to try and help the team get back into constructors' championship contention in 2025.

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Who is replacing Perez at Red Bull?

A job as Verstappen's team-mate comes with immense pressure, and in only one full season of the Dutchman's Red Bull career has he been beaten by his team-mate, back in 2017 when Daniel Ricciardo pipped him to fifth in the championship.

Perez finished a mammoth 285 points behind Verstappen in 2024, not picking up a podium since the Chinese Grand Prix back in April, while Verstappen cruised to a fourth championship success.

The gap between the two drivers in the championship ultimately led to Red Bull's constructors' championship downfall, finishing third behind McLaren and Ferrari.

Now, former McLaren mechanic Marc 'Elvis' Priestley has suggested that no current Red Bull driver has done enough in 2024 to earn a seat alongside Verstappen.

"It's not a major surprise, the only surprise with the Sergio Perez situation is that it's taken this long for a decision to be made," Priestley told Casino Uden Rofus.

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"It's clearly a lot more complicated behind the scenes instead of the decision being made on the driver's performance. Otherwise, with Red Bull's history, Perez would have been gone a long time ago.

"Red Bull never had a natural successor for Sergio Perez's seat. If you look at the Red Bull junior programme, the whole point is to find the next Max Verstappen or Sebastian Vettel, and they don't have one of those right now.

"Bringing in Liam Lawson as a number two driver might turn out to be quite short-sighted, as Verstappen could be elsewhere in 2026. I don't think Liam Lawson has done enough to grab that seat, but Perez's poor results have opened the door for him to take this opportunity.

"It will always seem unfair on the driver who missed out on the seat. But, I don't think Yuki Tsunoda or Liam Lawson deserved that Red Bull seat.

"When Max Verstappen came into F1, he grabbed people's attention and made them sit on the edge of their seats. I don't think you can say that either Tsunoda or Lawson have done that."

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