2024 Oracle Red Bull Racing F1 Team

[madsonit]

Crazy decision but it does highlight one of the issues of having Max- either he is pulling strings to avoid a big driver coming in, or his presence is scaring people off.

To think we’re gonna likely have to see talent like Carlos Sainz and Fernando Alonso- both of whom would have been options at some point this year- hand tied in midfield cars (unless AM or Audi/Williams deliver a mega car) in future whilst Red Bull retain Perez as a non threat to Max is just incredibly frustrating as a fan who wants to see great drivers go head to head.

Hopefully it makes the Constructors really interesting but man, two more years is staggering after how poor he’s been in what has been THE dominant car for 2-3 years.

100%
Since they only wanted someone for two years, Alonso would have been so great for them and the sport. At least when we had Merc dominating the sport we have some fights between Lewis and Nico and even Valteri was challenging Lewis at some point. But now all we have is one driver winning everything and hope some other team will step up. Really, for myself I watch f1 for the excitement of “what if another team brings some heat with some good upgrades”?

[PlatinumZealot]

This is called rewarding failure. Maybe Carlos Slim is going to help Horner with financing a takeover of the team and Perez comes with the deal. That's the only way this really makes sense.

2 years also handcuffs the team for if or when Max leaves and they need flexabiliy.

It's called keeping Max happy.

[TeamKoolGreen]

This is called rewarding failure. Maybe Carlos Slim is going to help Horner with financing a takeover of the team and Perez comes with the deal. That's the only way this really makes sense.

2 years also handcuffs the team for if or when Max leaves and they need flexabiliy.

It's called keeping Max happy.

Nope. That's not it. Max would want someone who can qualify just behind him and play rear gunner. Instead of sharing the front row with a Ferrari or McLaren every race because Checo cant get to Q3. Plus they wanted to sign Lando Norris , who would not be slow.

Max and Checo cant stand each other. Ever since Checo crashed on purpose, Max hasn't had time for him.

[TeamKoolGreen]

According to Scott Mitchell it's 1+1 with option on team side.

So this perhaps isn't as much of a 2-year extension as it seems. Not surprising given Perez isn't in a very strong position in negotiation I would say

This is much better as it means if there are better options available in 1 yr you don't need to stay as it is. Maybe they also have 1 eye on the fact that 2025 driver market could get interesting if Max does decide to leave

But think of all the drivers that were available this year before Hulk kicked things off and signed. If none of those were good enough or enough of a fit, why would anyone be next year ?

Plus Red Bull were interested in Lando Norris. So that throws cold water on the idea that they wanted someone slow to insulate Max.

[PlatinumZealot]

This is called rewarding failure. Maybe Carlos Slim is going to help Horner with financing a takeover of the team and Perez comes with the deal. That's the only way this really makes sense.

2 years also handcuffs the team for if or when Max leaves and they need flexabiliy.

It's called keeping Max happy.

Nope. That's not it. Max would want someone who can qualify just behind him and play rear gunner. Instead of sharing the front row with a Ferrari or McLaren every race because Checo cant get to Q3. Plus they wanted to sign Lando Norris , who would not be slow.

Max and Checo cant stand each other. Ever since Checo crashed on purpose, Max hasn't had time for him.

I'm not sure we arw talking about the same Max, you see. I'm talking about the Max that says he prefers to win by 30 seconds any day of the week. It's him and the machine and how perfect he can drivs it. He doesn't take too well to an annoying presence in the the other seat I'm sure. Can't imagine him battling a teammate each weekend and neither can Christian Horner and Helmut Marko.

[CHT]

RBR is still a branding exercise for Red Bull energy drinks and their ultimate goal is to generate wider fan base and brand awareness not just in Europe but globally. Having Perez will help RB promote their energy drinks to America Hispanic and South America market.

[Chuckjr]

RBR is still a branding exercise for Red Bull energy drinks and their ultimate goal is to generate wider fan base and brand awareness not just in Europe but globally. Having Perez will help RB promote their energy drinks to America Hispanic and South America market.

Yes exactly. This is about money, exposure, marketing, business, etc. It’s no longer about who’s the best driver for the seat, or what’s best for the team. Its about the assets the driver offers off track. Talent be damned.

If this decision costs RB the 2025 constructors it’s all on Horner. He ran off Newey and now he’s extended arguably the worst #2 driver. Terrible, terrible decision for the racing team side. Obviously great decision from the drinks business side. Fans and team be damned.

Horner fail.

[jrdls]

Does the Windtunnel allocation get reset when starting a new era of regulations?

In 2022 nothing special happened with the ATR, so I wouldn't expect any big change in that respect for 2026.

[PlatinumZealot]

RedBull is already propular in Central America. The sales numbers before and after Perez joined are not much different. There is value in stabilty at this tumultuos time. It would be foolhardy of Horner to shake things up even more. Just think about it guys. The less variables the better it is for the rest of the team to focus on delievering.

The opposite would be Ferrari now who are all about taking risks and rampimg up motivation. They have already set sail on transformational change and it's not about steadying the boat for them.

[TeamKoolGreen]

RBR is still a branding exercise for Red Bull energy drinks and their ultimate goal is to generate wider fan base and brand awareness not just in Europe but globally. Having Perez will help RB promote their energy drinks to America Hispanic and South America market.

Brazil and Argentina have their own racing heroes and they don't borrow them from Mexico. Perez is just Mexico.

What Horner said in 2021 https://www.grandprix.com/news/red-bull ... orner.html
Red Bull doesn't need Perez sponsors says Horner

[TeamKoolGreen]

RedBull is already propular in Central America. The sales numbers before and after Perez joined are not much different. There is value in stabilty at this tumultuos time. It would be foolhardy of Horner to shake things up even more. Just think about it guys. The less variables the better it is for the rest of the team to focus on delievering.

The opposite would be Ferrari now who are all about taking risks and rampimg up motivation. They have already set sail on transformational change and it's not about steadying the boat for them.

Perez's crashes and Q1 exists are an obvious hindrance to the team and literally the bottom line in racing. Bottas never missed Q3 once and he is available. Drivers change teams all the time in F1. Everyone is used to it. Bottas has poor racecraft but he would be parking the car in the top 3 regularly. And he'd be happy to yield to Max, no questions. Hulkenberg would be the same way. Hulk is helping out Max in qualifying and he isn't even his teammate. What a shame that we will never see them on the same team.

Neither one of Bottas or Hulk would be crashing on purpose to steal wins from Max. Perez's priorities are himself, his country and the team comes a distant 3rd.

[organic]

What a different timeline it could've been with hulkenberg being signed for the 2021 seat instead of Perez. Oh well.

[Chuckjr]

RedBull is already propular in Central America. The sales numbers before and after Perez joined are not much different. There is value in stabilty at this tumultuos time. It would be foolhardy of Horner to shake things up even more. Just think about it guys. The less variables the better it is for the rest of the team to focus on delievering.

The opposite would be Ferrari now who are all about taking risks and rampimg up motivation. They have already set sail on transformational change and it's not about steadying the boat for them.

Is there such a thing as stability in F1? Which team can stay still and still win? I don’t think any winning team is stable. Everything is knife edge at the top.

If not rocking the boat is a good idea, then Horner is hedging his bets he will have a dominant car that will only need one driver to win championships 24’ and 25’. I think that’s a passive way of going about things, and passivity doesn’t win championships.

Perez is not only a weak driver, but he is a team liability. He is compromising their development pace with all the crashes, and this may/will compromise their ability to stay dominant. He also isn’t fast enough consistently enough to offer them race strategies to counter teams with better driver line ups like Merc, Macca, Ferrari…well everyone else really. At the very least Hulk and Bottas offer better race pace and less crashes and make much more sense if RedBull really don’t need the South America market boost from Perez as you say. Heck Alonso in the Red Bull would not be able to be passed. Finally, if Max is so fragile that shaking the boat compromises his focus or ability to win, he doesn’t deserve to be winning championships.

[Sieper]

But he does, and he is.

[Leon]

We do not know the terms/conditions of the contract and there may be surprises again at the end of the season.