In recent months, the question of the second Red Bull seat has been at the heart of rumors and controversy. Sergio Pérez is in fact on an ejection seat and holds on forcefully to his steering wheel.
If the 2024 season started rather well for the Mexican driver with four podiums in the first five races, everything changed from the moment he extended his contract with Red Bull. Indeed, Sergio Pérez is today completely lost by the leading drivers and especially by his teammate, Max Verstappen.
As a reminder, the contract linking Fernando Alonso to Aston Martin was due to expire at the end of the current season. It is well known that the two-time World Champion always has an eye on the competition and always analyzes the options available to him.
“I remember a meeting with him, with Adrian [Newey]in 2011 or 2012 in the back of a rental car at Spa airport, about the passage of Ferrari and even at the beginning of this year [nous avons parlé]”said Red Bull team principal Christian Horner.
“At the time, Sergio's contract had not been extended, and Fernando is an experienced driver who always wants to know all the options available to him. Between him and his manager, Flavio, they are still surveying the market and it shows how competitive and successful he still is at the age of 43.”
“He’s still in great shape and that shows age is just a number. He is still a very competent grand prix driver and, if given the means, I am sure he would be at the front.”
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Could Alonso have shined with Red Bull?
Fernando Alonso is the first driver in the history of F1 to have exceeded the symbolic bar of 400 Grand Prix entries. However, the Spanish driver does not count today “what” two world titles to his credit. According to Christian Horner, Fernando Alonso could have achieved more if he had made other career choices.
« He's a tremendous competitor, and at the end of his first stint at McLaren I remember going to Madrid and insisting he get in the car“added Horner.
“We wanted a two-year contract and he was only willing to sign for one year, and we were convinced he had a contract with Ferrari in his back pocket at that point, so we didn't get All right. »
« If he had come to us in 2009, things might have been different – and even in the middle of 2009 he was convinced that if he got in our car he could win the championship again this year – there“, concluded the director of the Red Bull team.
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