F1 INSIDER
Sergio Pérez to Red Bull; 2021 calendar changes
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Red Bull now has the last two grand prix winners of 2020 on its books, having hired Sergio Pérez to replace Alex Albon, who will instead race a Red Bull-backed Ferrari in the DTM. It will be the first time Red Bull Racing has looked outside its young driver programme for a new recruit since Mark Webber joined from Williams in 2007.
The likelihood is that Pérez represents a stopgap solution to Red Bull’s problem of having a temporary shortage of home-grown talent it considers up to the job of partnering Max Verstappen. Even before the end of the 2020 season, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner wrote off the possibility of bringing Pierre Gasly back into the fold from Alphatauri; Albon was given until the end of the year but then placed elsewhere; and the next in line on the Junior Team, Estonian Jüri Vips, only competed in a handful of races because COVID scuppered plans for him to contest the Japanese Super Formula championship. Vips has been placed with Hitech in F2 for 2021 and already has a super licence.
Gasly may yet rebuild bridges with the senior team but he is currently regarded as being too psychologically fragile for the role, having essentially ‘lost the dressing room’ during his Red Bull tenure. Word circulated that he became fixated upon seat and pedal configuration changes, believing these to be the source of his troubles. Albon showed flashes of promise but was eventually shown the door for the same reason Gasly was demoted to Alphatauri in mid-2019: in order to challenge Mercedes properly, Red Bull needs two drivers at or near the front consistently. Gasly and Albon more often than not qualified well adrift of Verstappen, or slipped away from him on race pace, leaving a large gap which enabled Mercedes to checkmate Red Bull strategically, even on the days Verstappen was in contention on pure pace.
Some of the issues stem from recent Red Bull cars being difficult to drive – except for an individual of Verstappen’s rare gifts. Red Bull pioneered the ‘high rake’ aerodynamic concept in Formula 1 over 10 years ago and has since pushed it to extremes. In theory it provides greater peak downforce because the greater volume available under the rear of the car enables the air there to accelerate faster if managed properly.
But rule changes brought in for 2019 made that management process more difficult by limiting the number of turning vanes permitted on the front wing. The problem was particularly marked in slow-speed corners. Red Bull sought to cure that in 2020 by adopting a much narrower
nose on the RB16, thereby working the bargeboards harder, but this brought additional correlation problems because the turbulent wake of the front wheels is difficult to simulate. The result was a car which delivered higher peak downforce but was even trickier than before in lower-speed corners.
Red Bull threw resources at understanding and curing this problem before development curbs were introduced ahead of this season. It brought a whole new nose and wing concept to the RB16 at the Turkish GP, where it was raced by Verstappen, although the circumstances of that race (and an adjustment error by the mechanics) meant the revised package didn’t show its full potential until the final triple-header.
The team is therefore far more bullish about its prospects of challenging Mercedes than it was in the early races of 2020. And, or course, it now has two grand prix winners in the garage rather than one.
It may be the best part of 10 years since Pérez was regarded as a coming man in F1 but, after the low point of his single season with Mclaren in 2013, he has rebuilt his career and his reputation, ironing out the weak spots in his craft. He is now among the most proficient in the vital skill of managing Pirelli’s delicate rubber, a performance characteristic which is not likely to change this year.
While it’s unlikely that Pérez will offer a real challenge to Verstappen on or off the track, he is at least a known quantity and he brings a budget – useful since Red Bull has now lost Aston Martin’s title sponsorship. As the team focuses its energies on the unknowns ahead – it especially needs to nail down its engine plans in order to proceed with a car design for the new 2022 technical rules – a safe pair of hands is what Red Bull needs right now.
PÉREZ IS NOW AMONG THE MOST PROFICIENT IN THE VITAL SKILL OF MANAGING PIRELLI’S DELICATE RUBBER, A PERFORMANCE CHARACTERISTIC WHICH IS NOT LIKELY TO CHANGE THIS YEAR