Sergio Perez is gone from F1. Technically, he’s gone from Red Bull F1, but unless the new Cadillac F1 team decides that Checo is the right experienced driver they need to lead their launch in 2026, we’ve seen the last of the Mexican on the Grand Prix grid.
I’ve been a big supporter of Checo through the years, but even I got to the point where I thought he needed to be replaced, as he — in that team — was never going to get back to the level of performance that he’d shown previously, without some changes.
But was that because Perez had lost all the talent he had demonstrated in the past? No.
Chris Medland wrote on Racer.com (December 18, 2024) about when Pierre Gasly and Alex Albon were young teammates to Max Verstappen: “Gasly and Alex Albon have both subsequently showed their abilities in teams outside the Red Bull sphere, and proven that they were perhaps fast-tracked too soon into a front-running seat. Or, more likely, not provided an environment in which they could succeed. The common denominator is not a single driver, it’s that seat.”
Agreed. The key phrase here is “…not provided an environment in which they could succeed” (which is why I italicized it). And that’s what I meant when I said that Checo was never going to perform to the level needed within the Red Bull team.
There was an old joke/saying that drivers are like lightbulbs — you just screw one out and screw another one in. Red Bull leadership sure follows this philosophy. Rather than installing the right lightbulb, and then dialing up or down the right voltage, they just toss the bulbs that aren’t bright enough in the trash.
And now, Liam Lawson has been promoted from the RB team to drive alongside Max Verstappen in 2025. I’m also a big believer in Lawson, based on what we’ve seen already. But will he survive as teammate to the 4-time World Champion? That’s a big question mark, at best. It would not surprise me if he goes the way that Gasly and Albon have.
Certain drivers have destroyed the careers of other drivers: Ayrton Senna, Michael Schumacher, Max Verstappen. They, and some others in the history of the sport, have been so good, so dominant, that they made their teammates struggle and try to push things to keep up, then lose confidence, and spiral to the point where they lost their drive — literally and figuratively.
One of the reasons that Perez performed as well as he did during his four-year stint at Red Bull was his experience and maturity. For sure, he did some things that a younger, less-experienced driver would have done: specifically, trying to force being as fast as Max. Look at his results over his Red Bull years, and you could see when he tried to force it, and when his confidence suffered. But you can also see when he accepted his role as number two, focused on doing his job the best he could, and was confident in his ability to do what was necessary — he was right there behind Verstappen (and even beat him a couple of times in head-to-head qualifying and race battles). Unfortunately, we didn’t see enough of that Checo, especially over the last half of this season.
I’ve said it before — and written about it here in Driving Directions in the past (Manage Pressure, and Is Checo Maxed Out?) — the environment within the Red Bull team is not right for every driver. Some drivers need a little more mental and emotional support. That doesn’t make them weak or less capable. It just makes them different than what a guy like Max Verstappen needs.
Will Lawson survive in that environment? From the little we’ve seen of the Kiwi in F1, there’s hope for him. He’s not been afraid to push back and be aggressive. Whether he has the mental toughness to perform, despite the likely lack of support in the Red Bull garage, is something to be determined.
While I hate to see another young driver chewed up and spit out (screwed in, screwed out) of Red Bull, it will be fun to see how well Lawson does alongside Verstappen. It could make for some of the same interesting competition that we saw when Nico Rosberg was Lewis Hamilton’s teammate. I sure hope so! Or maybe Liam will go the way of Pierre and Alex? I hope not.