Sergio Perez is still battling to secure his long-term Red Bull future with 12 months left on his current deal.
AlphaTauri are targeting a return to the head of the midfield in 2024 in a move that could put Sergio Perez under even more pressure. Should the Italian team provide Red Bull hopefuls Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda with better machinery, the pair will be able to better demonstrate their talent as Christian Horner prepares to make his 2025 line-up decision.
Perez currently has 12 months left on his Red Bull deal with the Mexican one of 14 drivers set to be out of contract come the end of the year. With the entire paddock poised ahead of what could be a frantic ‘silly season’, he is facing mountains of pressure in his bid to retain his drive beyond the end of the 2024 campaign.
The 33-year-old won two of the opening four races in 2023 but failed to maintain his title challenge as team-mate Max Verstappen cruised to the title with 19 wins from a possible 22. Perez stumbled over the line to seal a one-two Drivers’ Championship finish, but he is under pressure to improve his consistency in 2024, particularly in qualifying.
Should Perez fail to improve, Horner is likely to look to AlphaTauri to provide his replacement. In Ricciardo and Tsunoda, Red Bull have two strong candidates who would be willing to play the deputy role to Verstappen. Evaluating them, however, was tough in 2023 due to the uncompetitive nature of the AT04.
Discussing AlphaTauri’s approach for the 2024 campaign, technical director Jody Egginton told Autosport: “We want to keep on this trajectory of progress we’ve been on in the second half of the year.
“The target is to achieve something similar to what we did in 2020 to 2021. We’ve been there before, we’ve done it, and we just need a solid winter and to hit the ground running. Then our season can be a little bit… not easy, it’s never easy, but a bit more progressive. And we can develop the car in a slightly more structured way.”
The two seasons mentioned by Egginton produced P7 and P6 Constructors’ Championship finishes for AlphaTauri, but the Faenza-based outfit was regularly fighting for podiums in 2021 with Tsunoda’s difficult rookie campaign holding them back in terms of their points tally.
While Horner will be focused on the performance of the Red Bull team next season, greater visibility for AlphaTauri will give Ricciardo and Tsunoda more opportunities to catch the eye of the team principal and make a claim for Perez’s seat, should performances fail to improve.
