Perez, The Elephant in the Room??

[paulguitar]

Dave200 said:

Harry Flatters said:

For me, the biggest disappointment of this 'safe' re-appointment of Perez is that yet again, there will be no severe test for Max by a team mate with the same machinery.

We know Max is good, but until he is properly 'tested', his stats will always have a bit of a hollow ring for me.

Does it really matter? Does it matter to anyone other than the tiny sliver of the population who analyse F1 on the internet?

In the big scheme of things, no.

To those who are F1 aficionados, yes.

[TheDeuce]

Heathwood said:

I wonder how much of this is actually about RB wanting to retain Checo (if even to keep the Verstappens happy) and how much is down to alternative options.

As we know, the second RB seat is something of a poisoned chalice. Who would want to go there? Seems to me that you have the journeymen and, in this respect, are any of these likely to do a better job than Perez?

You have the young guns, who would be too great a risk on a number of counts, and then you have, perhaps, one or two who might actually fancy their chances at beating Verstappen, such as Alonso (ideal way to alienate the Verstappens, so that’s not going to happen).

So, who left? Anyone half decent will not sign up to play second fiddle to Max. I think Checo was the default option from a limited pool.

Max and Red Bull clearly have strong incentives to keep Max looking as great as possible. He is very good, I'm not suggesting he isn't.. But taking that truth and building him into an apparent force of nature, easily able to extract more from a car than anyone else possibly could, is valuable in terms of brand promotion and his stock as a driver.

As per my previous post, I think the 2nd seat at RBR is in general challenging, whoever takes it. But in addition to that I can well imagine that having a 'just good enough' no2 that leaves as much distance to Max as he does, is valuable.

Agree also they don't care half as much about WCC as they do about selling the human story of a superstar driver. It's literally the brand strapline - Red Bull gives YOU wings. The brand is all about humans achieving incredible things, with plenty of shots of them swigging from RB branded drink containers.

[thegreenhell]

Dave200 said:

Does it really matter? Does it matter to anyone other than the tiny sliver of the population who analyse F1 on the internet?

But this is that tiny sliver on the internet, so it matters here.

[budgie smuggler]

I'm quite surprised about this, as Perez often isn't close enough to Max to be able to be used tactically to protect against undercuts etc.

[TheDeuce]

budgie smuggler said:

I'm quite surprised about this, as Perez often isn't close enough to Max to be able to be used tactically to protect against undercuts etc.

That would be relevant if anyone else was close enough to achieve an undercut

[Harry Flatters]

Dave200 said:

Harry Flatters said:

For me, the biggest disappointment of this 'safe' re-appointment of Perez is that yet again, there will be no severe test for Max by a team mate with the same machinery.

We know Max is good, but until he is properly 'tested', his stats will always have a bit of a hollow ring for me.

Does it really matter? Does it matter to anyone other than the tiny sliver of the population who analyse F1 on the internet?

To anyone who is genuinely interested in F1 and the competition between drivers (called racing), yes it does matter.

[budgie smuggler]

TheDeuce said:

That would be relevant if anyone else was close enough to achieve an undercut

I think Mclaren and Ferrari aren't too far off.

[Supersam83]

Max Vs Perez since they have been teammates:

Races together (From 2021 up until Monaco GP 2024): 74

Races Max has won: 49

Races Perez has won: 5

Races won by other drivers: 20 (Listed below):

Hamilton: 8 races

Leclerc: 4 races

Sainz Jr: 3 races

Russell: 1 race

Norris: 1 race

Ocon: 1 race

Riccardo: 1 race

Bottas: 1 race

In those 20 races won by the other drivers, Perez has had the following results:

2nd places: 2 times

3rd places: 1 time

Points Finish - 4th to 10th place: 11 times

Out of points (still classified): 1

DNF: 5 (4 due to crashes, 1 mechanical)

---

I'm afraid he has done nothing to warrant being given a 2-year contract extension when there are other drivers out there who would do a far better job in his place.

[Heathwood]

Supersam83 said:

Max Vs Perez since they have been teammates:

Races together (From 2021 up until Monaco GP 2024): 74

Races Max has won: 49

Races Perez has won: 5

Races won by other drivers: 20 (Listed below):

Hamilton: 8 races

Leclerc: 4 races

Sainz Jr: 3 races

Russell: 1 race

Norris: 1 race

Ocon: 1 race

Riccardo: 1 race

Bottas: 1 race

In those 20 races won by the other drivers, Perez has had the following results:

2nd places: 2 times

3rd places: 1 time

Points Finish - 4th to 10th place: 11 times

Out of points (still classified): 1

DNF: 5 (4 due to crashes, 1 mechanical)

---

I'm afraid he has done nothing to warrant being given a 2-year contract extension when there are other drivers out there who would do a far better job in his place.

I don’t disagree with your first point, but out of interest which drivers do you think could do a notably better job than Perez and be willing to play second fiddle to Max?

[Zetec-S]

Supersam83 said:

I'm afraid he has done nothing to warrant being given a 2-year contract extension when there are other drivers out there who would do a far better job in his place.

Nothing to warrant the contract extension, other than having a multi-billion € organisation and the management of one of the most successful F1 teams of recent years decide that actually, he does deserve a contract extension.

I agree he's not exactly setting things alight, but who else could, (not might), do a better job?

Whilst Max disappears up the road, and Ferrari, McLaren and Mercedes are all taking points off each other, Perez doesn't need to finish on the podium every race for Red Bull to take the WCC title. Top 5-6 with a few podiums is all they need, and I expect the next few races will start to show the dominance of the RB car again and he will start moving up the table.

[Bo_apex]

Muzzer79 said:

I don’t see Max telling Checo’s engineers what settings to use and I don’t see Red Bull making a car specifically for MV. He just drives it faster.

^^this^^


Albon said the same.

Max is in harmony with his own preferred settings more often than Perez is.

[deadslow]

Zetec-S said:

Supersam83 said:

I'm afraid he has done nothing to warrant being given a 2-year contract extension when there are other drivers out there who would do a far better job in his place.

Nothing to warrant the contract extension, other than having a multi-billion € organisation and the management of one of the most successful F1 teams of recent years decide that actually, he does deserve a contract extension.

I agree he's not exactly setting things alight, but who else could, (not might), do a better job?

Whilst Max disappears up the road, and Ferrari, McLaren and Mercedes are all taking points off each other, Perez doesn't need to finish on the podium every race for Red Bull to take the WCC title. Top 5-6 with a few podiums is all they need, and I expect the next few races will start to show the dominance of the RB car again and he will start moving up the table.

^^^ this is exactly correct.

[Sandpit Steve]

budgie smuggler said:

I'm quite surprised about this, as Perez often isn't close enough to Max to be able to be used tactically to protect against undercuts etc.

As we very nearly saw in Monaco, where Max was stuck in a Mercedes sandwich, where Lewis could have undercut him but for their own messing up of strategy communication.

Edited by Sandpit Steve on Wednesday 5th June 12:29

[Dave200]

Supersam83 said:

I'm afraid he has done nothing to warrant being given a 2-year contract extension when there are other drivers out there who would do a far better job in his place.

I don't think he's a particularly great driver in isolation, but his RB record is 2 seasons and 2 WCCs. What more do you think RB want from a second driver?

To bastardise a quote about priorities, "If you have two lead drivers, you have no lead driver."

[belleair302]

If as stated by many sources your number 2 driver carries $40 million worth of sponsorship which pays all of the salaries for the factory why would you not resign him. Nobody else has anyway near that much backing nor can do the media work so well. It isn’t all about racing, the media stuff is so important today.

[rallycross]

Why agree to re-sign him at this early point of the season? Keeping his contract negotiations going till the end of the season could well have stopped him falling asleep again (him and Bottas have both shown themselves capable of suddenly going a lot quicker when they were fighting for a contract renewal).

None of this Perez announcement makes any sense if the team wants a secure 1st place in the manufacturers championship.

[Adrian W]

rallycross said:

Why agree to re-sign him at this early point of the season? Keeping his contract negotiations going till the end of the season could well have stopped him falling asleep again (him and Bottas have both shown themselves capable of suddenly going a lot quicker when they were fighting for a contract renewal).

None of this Perez announcement makes any sense if the team wants a secure 1st place in the manufacturers championship.

Yes it does, he's a pay driver and no threat to Verstappen

[Gazzab]

rallycross said:

Why agree to re-sign him at this early point of the season? Keeping his contract negotiations going till the end of the season could well have stopped him falling asleep again (him and Bottas have both shown themselves capable of suddenly going a lot quicker when they were fighting for a contract renewal).

None of this Perez announcement makes any sense if the team wants a secure 1st place in the manufacturers championship.

It does make sense. It might not be what we want to see though.
We expect to see Max be back to his winning ways shortly. Meanwhile 2nd through to 6th will be shared and swapped around mainly between Ferrari, McLaren and Perez. So the maths will easily work for their constructor points advantage.
And of course Perez brings a lot of dollars and people like him. He’s good for the brand.
And it keeps Max happy.

[CoolHands]

Can’t believe they’ve extended this useless boring bds contract

Another reason to not watch!

[patmahe]

If Red Bull were serious about winning the constructors championship, they would have tried everything to get Sainz in that car. Perez is there because he plays well with Max and is no threat to him. This move could cost them championships and prize money this year and in subsequent years. After his abysmal Monaco display it's hard to justify this move unless there are considerable performance clauses relative to Max that give Red Bull a way out should they need it.