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Max Verstappen laughs at rumours he could be in the Alpha Tauri for the rest of the season and would be happy with either Daniel Ricciardo or Sergio Perez as a team-mate at Red Bull for 2023.
Max Verstappen laughs at rumours he could be in the Alpha Tauri for the rest of the season and would be happy with either Daniel Ricciardo or Sergio Perez as a team-mate at Red Bull for 2023.
Max Verstappen says it would be “great” to have either Sergio Perez or Daniel Ricciardo as his Red Bull team-mate next season, amid continued speculation about the former’s future with the team.
Verstappen has produced a stunning season to secure a third successive drivers’ title, but Perez, after a strong start to his campaign, has struggled and is only 20 points clear of Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton in second place with three rounds remaining.
Perez is contracted to remain with Red Bull until the end of next season, but his poor form, which has seen him manage just one podium in the last seven races, has led to speculation that the team could opt to replace him sooner.
Meanwhile, after joining Red Bull’s junior squad AlphaTauri mid-way through the season, Verstappen’s former team-mate Ricciardo has been open about his ultimate goal of regaining the seat he chose to give up at the end of 2018, and at last weekend’s Mexico City Grand Prix put in an eye-catching performance by taking seventh.
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A dramatic opening lap of the Mexico City GP sees Charles Leclerc collide with Sergio Perez, with the Mexican having to retire.
“I always had a great relationship with Daniel when we were team-mates, when of course we weren’t,” Verstappen said ahead of this weekend’s Sao Paulo Grand Prix in Brazil.
“But at the same time also I have a great relationship with Checo so I find it a bit unfair to now sit here and say who I would prefer as a team-mate.
“They have been great team-mates and it’s not up to me, at the end of the day, to make these kind of decisions, because I’m very focused on my own performance.
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F1 content creator Tommo questions whether Daniel Ricciardo will replace Sergio Perez at Red Bull following his recent run of poor form. You can listen to the latest episode of the Sky Sports F1 Podcast now.
“If it’s Checo next year, then great. I have a great working relationship with him but also personally think he’s a great guy.
“If it’s Daniel then also we will get along fine and have a great time. But yeah, F1 can be tough sport. You ask these kind of questions, but maybe also nothing happens right? So we’ll see.”
Verstappen hopes to avoid needing to help Perez
In a rare 2022 off-day for Red Bull, Mercedes secured a one-two at last year’s Sao Paulo Grand Prix, but the disappointing display was worsened by a furious row between Verstappen and Perez as the world champion refused to help his team-mate in the closing stages of the race.
Verstappen was instructed to let Perez through in the closing stages to give his team-mate sixth place, with Perez at the time in a close contest with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc for second in the drivers’ standings, but the Dutchman refused, sighting an incident from earlier in the season.
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Max Verstappen refuses to let team-mate Sergio Perez back through and is furious with Red Bull on the team radio.
Leclerc would ultimately pip Perez to second by just three points, which means the Mexican holding onto second this season would give Red Bull a first ever one-two finish in the drivers’ standings.
Asked whether he would be willing to help Perez this time around, Verstappen said: “I think it shouldn’t always matter on me to get the points. I’m confident in Checo that he can stay ahead because I do think that on average we have the faster car.
“I think also last year, it wasn’t really well spoken about before we got into the race weekend.
“Let’s just hope that we don’t get into that situation, I think it’s better for everyone.”
Perez confident of having Verstappen ‘support’
Perez says that such a scenario reoccurring hasn’t been discussed, but that he is confident of having “support” from Verstappen if he needs it.
“We haven’t thought about it,” Perez said. “But if the situation arises. I’m sure I will have support from Max.”
Perez suffered a disastrous home race last weekend as he crashed out of the Mexico City Grand Prix at the opening corner when attempting to pass Verstappen and Leclerc around the outside for the lead.
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Sergio Perez insists he is not concerned about losing his seat at Red Bull next season, insisting he has a contract and his future is ‘clear’.
The 33-year-old says he is relieved to be able to get straight back to action for the final leg of the Americas triple-header, with Sao Paulo hosting a Sprint weekend.
“It’s the best,” Perez told Sky Sports F1. “I’m so lucky that we don’t have two weekends off. I’m happy to be back here and just put everything that happened in Mexico behind me.
“I have the pace to do that (keep second). I’ve just been extremely unlucky the last few weekends, so I think it’s time to get a clean weekend and show what I can do, because I think the pace in the last few weekends has been a lot better than the results we’ve been getting.
“I really feel that we’ve made a lot of progress so we should be back in form this weekend.”
Ricciardo: No talks with Red Bull about 2024 seat
Ricciardo replaced rookie Nyck de Vries 10 races into the season, but then in just his third race back crashed and suffered a hand injury that would keep him out of five races.
The Australian returned at the US Grand Prix, before qualifying fourth – ahead of Perez and fractionally behind Verstappen – in Mexico, and backing it up with P7 in the race to deliver a statement performance.
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Watch onboard as Alpha Tauri’s Daniel Ricciardo hunts down George Russell in the Mercedes over the last lap of the Mexican GP.
However, Ricciardo insists that he has had no discussions with Red Bull about replacing Perez next season, and that his contract for 2024 is solely to drive for AlphaTauri.
“I haven’t (spoken to Red Bull),” Ricciardo said on Thursday. “All the stuff around my contract next year has been related to AlphaTauri. I would say that’s honestly as far as that goes.
“For me personally, having a weekend like Mexico is just definitely good for the soul.
“Also for the team, I haven’t been here long, but for them to be 10th in the constructors’ (standings) and to jump two places in the space of two weekends was huge.
“I think that kind of creates a very happy atmosphere around everyone, so kind of happy doing that and just trying to keep charging on where I am.”
When to watch the Sao Paulo GP live only on Sky Sports F1
Friday November 3
- 2pm: Sao Paulo GP Practice (session starts at 2.30pm)
- 5.30pm: Sao Paulo GP Qualifying build-up (also on Sky Sports Main Event)
6pm: Sao Paulo GP Qualifying (also on Sky Sports Main Event) - 8pm: Ted’s Qualifying Notebook
Saturday November 4
- 1.30pm: Sprint Shootout build-up
- 2pm: Sao Paulo GP Sprint Shootout
- 5.30pm: Sprint build-up
- 6.30pm: SAO PAULO SPRINT
- 8pm: Ted’s Sprint Notebook
Sunday November 5
- 3.30pm: Grand Prix Sunday: Sao Paulo GP build-up
- 5pm: THE SAO PAULO GRAND PRIX
- 7pm: Chequered Flag: Sao Paulo GP reaction
- 8pm: Ted’s Notebook
F1 heads straight to Brazil for the final leg of the Americas triple header and the last Sprint weekend of the 2023 season. Watch every session from the Sao Paulo Grand Prix live on Sky Sports F1 from Friday, with Sunday’s race at 5pm. Stream F1 on Sky Sports with NOW
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