Red Bull is shaping up to emerge from the forthcoming August break with different driver lineups at both of the brand’s Formula 1 teams.
Daniel Ricciardo faces the prospect of either being dropped by the junior squad RB altogether, or promoted at least for the second part of 2024 to Red Bull Racing.
"Obviously going up (to Red Bull Racing), that’s my goal," said the Australian. "I’d love to return, but you know there’s also talks of ’will I even be here?"
Sergio Perez might also be driving his final race of 2024 this weekend at Spa-Francorchamps, with team boss Christian Horner admitting the Mexican’s gap to Max Verstappen is still "too big".
"Checo’s future is in his hands," he told Sky Italia. "In the next 11 races we have to defend the constructors’ title, so we need two drivers who can score points, so experience is important."
The fact that Horner emphasised ’experience’ is a clear blow to Liam Lawson, although the young New Zealander looks very likely to fill Ricciardo’s place at RB instead.
Perez, though, denies that he’s about to trigger a poor performance clause in his contract, even though team advisor Dr Helmut Marko has been referring to those clauses repeatedly of late.
"You have to ask Helmut that," Perez insisted. "But have I been given a goal in the standings? Absolutely not."
Marko, though, said at Spa: "He has to be closer to Max, or score reasonable points."
As for RB and Lawson, the Faenza based team’s boss Laurent Mekies freely admits team owner Red Bull could tweak the driver lineup over the summer break.
"Well, yes, there have been a lot of speculations," said the Frenchman. "I think we’ve made it very public that we will sit down in the summer break in order to discuss the drivers’ futures."