The Christmas-themed picture strained the nerves of F1 fans.
A caricature of the Red Bull formula team’s driver situation was published on the official social media accounts of the Abu Dhabi GP, which had to be removed after an avalanche of criticism from F1 fans.
The F1 race team had created a classic of Christmas movies Home alone from the official cover poster, a picture in which Kevin, who stays home alone, is played by the Red Bull driver Sergio Perez. Behind him are lurking the clumsy thieves familiar from the movie, played in this case by a fellow driver Daniel Ricciardo and team manager Christian Horner.
The title of the film reads Sergio Alone. The idea for the humorous image originated from Red Bull’s internal power struggle for the second driver’s seat. There have been rumors in F1 circles all year that Perez may not be able to keep his place in the series’ best team until the end of his contract. Ricciardo is the biggest advance favorite to replace the Mexican.
This caricature quickly disappeared from the official social media account of the F1 race. Screenshot / X
Perez’s contract still covers the next season.
Coincidence or not, the mockup was published on the same day that F1 shared an interview with Horner on its website, in which the team manager reminded that the team always aims for the best possible pair of drivers.
Checo or Ric?
Christian Horner considers Daniel Ricciardo a good option for the driver of Red Bull’s number one car. PDO
Team manager Horner has wanted to keep the pressure on Perez’s neck and previously commented publicly that Red Bull has good driver options Max Verstappen’s next to He has also demanded that Perez raise his level, even though the Mexican finished second in the World Series last season. Despite the final result, the Mexican lost to the Dutchman in World Championship points by almost three hundred.
After all, Horner is not sure about 2025. Ricciardo’s return as a full-time F1 driver has made the Australian Perez the strongest challenger. Ricciardo drove Red Bull’s number one car before in 2014–2018, so the energy drink team knows exactly what kind of driver it would get from Aussie.
– Max and Checo have been wonderfully successful as a couple. In his three years with us, Checo has finished fourth, third and second, so his development curve is in a good situation.
Sergio Perez’s contract still covers the next F1 season. PDO
– We know Daniel well. It was great to have him back. Everything is still open from 2025 onwards, Horner said in an interview with Sky Sports in December.
Judging from the talks, Red Bull will at least start the next season with a familiar driver duo.
Horner has said that he is also following AlphaTauri Yuki Tsonoda23, and reserve driver by Liam Lawson, 21, development. Tsunoda has been driving in formula one since the 2021 season. In the season that ended, Lawson drove races when Ricciardo was injured on the sidelines.
Source: news.com.au