Red Bull’s notorious sword of Damocles is now hanging over the heads of a trio of Formula 1 drivers - Sergio Perez, Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda’s heads.
Ricciardo and Tsunoda, teammates at Red Bull’s feeder F1 team RB this year, appeared to be in a head-to-head this year to potentially replace Perez as Max Verstappen’s 2025 teammate.
"Both may be hoping for a place in the first team," Red Bull’s influential F1 consultant Dr Helmut Marko told Sky Deutschland in Australia. "But for that to happen, one of them will have to be well ahead of the other.
"Ricciardo is a little behind," said the 80-year-old. "But let’s say it like this: Tsunoda has speed in qualifying, but in the race, they are both too slow.
"I think at least a point should have been scored in each of the first two races," Marko continued. "It’s very difficult to score points when you’re behind the top five teams, but when you have the opportunity, you can’t make mistakes."
Marko, however, admitted that even Perez’s place at Red Bull Racing next year is in doubt.
"We are happy with Perez," he said, "but he is no longer young. Neither is Ricciardo. Perhaps we’ll turn our attention to someone else."
The obvious ’someone else’ could be Red Bull’s current 22-year-old reserve Liam Lawson, who impressed when he filled in for the injured Ricciardo last year.
"First he needs to prove himself," Marko said. "But what he showed last year was very impressive."
The Austrian admitted that it might therefore make sense to keep Perez, 34, in pole position for a new contract for 2025.
"He drove two very good races," said Marko. "He is second in the championship. The question of who should replace Perez now is not really an issue.
"It’s about the future."