Perez praised after Red Bull driver dramas; team boss unleashes on own engineers: F1 Pit Talk

Red Bull Racing might be beginning to contemplate what life might be like if Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez end up as genuine title contenders, but it wasn’t that long ago that such a scenario seemed unattainable.

For the years between Daniel Ricciardo’s departure from the team and Perez’s arrival, Red Bull Racing struggled to find a driver capable of driving its famously snappy cars made for the prodigiously talented Verstappen.

The team chewed up and spat out two quick youngsters, Pierre Gasly and Alex Albon, before it realised it might have a problem that extended beyond its drivers.

Christian Horner has made the belated admission his team’s hiring policy might bear some responsibility for that. At least Gasly and Albon have carved out places for themselves elsewhere in F1.

Horner’s counterpart at Red Bull’s other team, AlphaTauri, is meanwhile on the offensive over his uncompetitive car, unleashing on engineers he felt misled him about the team’s competitiveness this season.

And Formula 1 will soon have a new title to add to the Senna legend, with a new miniseries about the Brazilian icon preparing for production.

Horner admits to mistakes promoting gasly, albon too soon

Christian Horner has admitted it was “unfair” to have promoted Pierre Gasly and Alex Albon into Red Bull Racing so early in their careers.

Gasly was promote from Toro Rosso, now AlphaTauri, in 2019 after Daniel Ricciardo’s sudden departure but with barely a year of Formula 1 experience under his belt.

He was dropped back to the junior team after just 12 races in favour of Albon, who had made his F1 debut just that season. Though the Thai driver proved a steadier hand for the rest of the year, he failed to progress the following season and was dumped from the sport in 2021.

The team then abandoned its strategy of promoting from its junior team and looked externally to pick up then 10-season veteran Sergio Perez.

Perez proved an immediately steadier hand and has become progressively more comfortable in the team, a sign for team boss Christian Horner that the team’s fast-promotion strategy was probably bound to fail.

“I think the key thing in the appointment of Checo was his experience,” Horner said. “And it had been unfair, perhaps, on the previous two guys to bring them in so soon.

“I think that Checo with that experience, he’s been through some of the hard knocks with his career to that point and I think what he’s brought to us is he’s a very rounded guy, he’s a great team player.

“He’s got a good outlook on the development of the car and he’s very easy to work with. So that’s what all the reasons were for taking him in the first place. And he’s delivering on that.”

But there’s no denying Verstappen has been the unquestioned benchmark inside the team since Ricciardo’s departure, including in Perez’s two years at Milton Keynes.

Horner said Perez needed to be consistently at his best to have a hope of matching the Dutchman in a title fight.

“Max is a hell of a competitor and he’s a tough, probably the highest benchmark in Formula 1,” he said. “But Checo is now in his third year in the team, he’s confident, he’s comfortable and he’s got to be on his A-game.”

Alphatauri boss slams engineers for underwhelming new car

AlphaTauri boss Franz Tost has unleashed in a scathing assessment of his own team following a disappointing opening chapter to the 2023 season.

Neither driver has scored points so far this season, and while Yuki Tsunoda made it into Q2 in Bahrain, neither he nor rookie teammate Nyck de Vries escaped Q1 in Saudi Arabia last weekend.

The poor run of results has left the team tied with McLaren for last in the championship.

Tost has set a perpetual target of fifth in the constructors championship, which the team came close to achieving in 2021 with an equal-best finish of sixth, just 13 points off the target.

But the team slipped to a painful ninth last year with just 35 points to its name, and so far this season the car has looked among the slowest three on the grid.

“Unfortunately, I think it’s currently the performance level of the car,” Tost said ahead of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix weekend. “We expected a much better car.

“We have to do a lot of things to make the car faster, and especially on the aerodynamic side. There are different programs going on.

“The engineers tell me that we make some good progress, but I don’t trust them anymore. I just want to see the lap time, because this is the only thing which counts.”

Asked if he genuinely meant that he no longer trusted his engineers, Tost replied unequivocally.

“Yes, because during the winter months they told me, ‘The car is fantastic, we’re making big progress’ and then we come to Bahrain and we are nowhere.

“What should I say?”

Asked to summarise the issues with the car, The Austrian boss was similarly blunt.

“Not enough downforce, therefore the car is unstable under braking, overheating the rear tyres, washing out at the apex, bad traction — everything what you need to do a good lap time.”

Senna production takes step forward with leading actor

Brazilian actor Gabriel Leone has been announced in the leading role of Ayrton Senna in the upcoming Brazilian biographical miniseries Senna.

Leone will team up with Brazilian co-directors Vicente Amorim and Julia Rezende for the six-part Netflix production, which is being produced with the approval and involvement of the Senna family.

“It is a huge responsibility and also a great honour to be able to represent an icon who inspired so many people throughout his life, showing the world Brazilian sporting talent,” Leone said. “Knowing that we will bring this story to millions of people in so many countries, through Netflix, inspires me to see this as one of the great roles of my career.”

The miniseries will be set between Senna’s move from Brazil to England in 1981 and his death at the San Marino Grand Prix in 1994 and will feature both his on-track achievements, including his three world championships, as well as his off-track legacy and relationships.

Senna is still in preproduction and is currently rumoured to have a 2024 release date.

The 2020s are shaping up as a new golden age for motorsport storytelling, in particular for Formula 1.

Just this week the documentary film Villeneuve Pironi has been released to positive reviews, detailing the famous rivalry between Ferrari teammates Gilles Villeneuve and Didier Pironi.

Leone has also been cast as former Ferrari driver Alfonso De Portago in the biopic Ferrari, set in 1957 as Enzo Ferrari attempts to win the Mille Miglia while dealing with the death of his son.

Ferrari is being directed by Oscar winner Michael Mann and features Adam Driver as Enzo alongside Penélope Cruz, who plays wife Laura Ferrari. It’s due for release later this year.