Since Daniel Ricciardo’s shocking departure from Red Bull in 2018, no driver has felt comfortable in the second seat. Massive controversy and media frenzy has surrounded the seat and every driver that has filled it. Which leads many to think, is the second seat at Red Bull really cursed? It is almost like asking how long a piece of string is. Nobody knows the answer, but everyone still talks about it and attempts to find out the real answer. So today at Grid Girls, we're going to give you a run down of what has happened in that second Red Bull seat since Ricciardo left.
Pierre Gasly
Red Bull were slightly blindsided by Ricciardo choosing to leave for a fresh start in Renault and it left them with a big decision of who could challenge Max Verstappen and help Red Bull win the drivers and constructor’s title. Red Bull decided to promote then Torro Rosso driver Pierre Gasly after a hugely successful season with the then barely midfield sister team, managing to finish in the points five times. Gasly was off to a bad start with Red Bull by crashing in Winter testing and being lapped in 11th place at the opening Australian race with teammate Verstappen finishing on the podium in 3rd.
From there, Gasly’s season never really took off with Red Bull despite finishing in the points nine out of the twelve races he drove for Red Bull. He never scored a podium and Red Bull felt he could not handle the pressure he was under against Verstappen and the media that surrounded him in that seat. During the summer break, the decision was made to demote Gasly back to Torro Rosso for the Belgian grand prix and promote the then rookie in Formula 1, Alex Albon, to Red Bull. This decision caused a media frenzy and massive controversy for Red Bull and Gasly. This must have been a hard pill for Gasly to swallow. To make matters even worse, days later a close friend of his, Anthoine Hubert, lost his life during a Formula 2 race at the Belgian circuit of Spa-Francorchamps. Gasly showed his worth to Red Bull in the Brazilian grand prix by finishing on the podium in 2nd place. Albon finished P14 for Red Bull after colliding with Lewis Hamilton on the last lap of the race. This is when the questions began; had Red Bull jumped the gun by demoting Gasly after only twelve races or was that second seat really cursed?
Alex Albon
The 2020 season began with the Red Bull line up of Verstappen, starting his fifth consecutive season with the team, and Albon, who was retained for his second season with Red Bull. Albon was given a chance at redemption with Red Bull, but would he be able to challenge Verstappen during only his second season in Formula 1? The simple answer was unfortunately no. Albon managed to finish in the points in ten of sixteen races, while finishing on the podium once. These results were not consistent enough for Red Bull who were looking like they could finally challenge Mercedes in the championship, but they could not do this with only one driver finishing consistently on the podium and in the points. The season ended with Verstappen finishing in P3 with 214 points and only nine points behind Valterri Bottas in P2. Albon finished in P7 with 105 points. Red Bull managed to score P2 in the championship.
Sergio Perez
Silly season 2020 was most likely the silliest we had seen in years. Rumors flew around that Sebastian Vettel would move to Racing Point who would be rebranded to Aston Martin for 2021 and this would leave Sergio Perez without a seat. As Lance Stroll’s father, Lawrence Stroll, bought the team, Lance was guaranteed a seat and the team had no intention of keeping Perez. It was announced late in the 2020 season that Perez would be without a seat for 2021 with Racing Point (Aston Martin) announcing their driver line up as Vettel and Stroll. In the media it was made very clear, Albon had not performed as well as Red Bull thought he would. Although rumors were flying during the summer break of 2020 that Red Bull would once again do a driver swap with Albon and Gasly, this did not happen. Albon retained his seat until the end of the 2020 season and was then dropped for the 2021 season, Red Bull shocking the media by taking on Perez, who had never been associated with the Red Bull driving academy. This was the first time Red Bull had hired an “outsider” for their top team since 2007. The question arose: why did Red Bull take on Perez when they had a driving academy full of drivers dying to be in that second Red Bull seat?
Perez was an experienced driver in Formula 1, and it was clear that Red Bull rookies could not live up to the standard that was set by Max Verstappen. Therefore, Red Bull had no other choice than to shop outside the academy. Perez had a relatively good career in Formula 1 behind him with a few podiums and some amazing overtake moments on track. All media reports that surrounded Perez were good and Red Bull needed consistency for the 2021 season as they finally felt they would have the car to challenge Mercedes. Ultimately what caught the eye of Red Bull was Perez finishing on the top step of the podium in the season finale at Abu Dhabi earning his first ever race win in Formula 1. It was the icing on the cake Red Bull needed to sign Perez for the 2021 season.
Perez started the 2021 season in Bahrain with a P5 finish in his first race for Red Bull. It appears he had adapted to the Red Bull car rather quickly, and maybe that second seat was in fact not cursed; it just had yet to find the right driver, right? Wrong. In the next round at Imola, Perez finished in P12 after a disaster race in wet conditions where he earned a 10 second time penalty and spun off the track on lap 38. After a disappointing race at Imola, Perez finished in the top five for the next seven races and some people thought the seat might not be cursed after all. However, the last two rounds in Britain and Hungarian saw Perez finishing out of the points in a disappointing P16 and P17.
Then the silly season rumors began, would Red Bull keep Perez for the rest of the season or would they swap him out for Gasly, who has so far had an extremely impressive season in his Alpha Tauri car? Gasly has managed to finish in the points in eight races so far this season, even earning himself a podium place of P3. All these rumors were put to rest when Red Bull announced they are happy with their driver line up and will keep both Verstappen and Perez for 2022.
Since there Perez seems to have been given a new lease of life and has really started to flourish in the second driver seat. Most recently, he became the first Mexican driver to finish on the podium at their home Grand Prix, to the adoration of the home fans. That success will certainly increase his chances of being retained by Red Bull for future seasons.
The Future
It is a well-known fact that Gasly is desperate to have that Red Bull second seat back. Gasly is tied to the Red Bull driver academy until 2022, then he becomes a free agent. With new regulations for the 2022 season predicting teams being closer than ever, are Red Bull really going to let a top team, such as Mercedes, or the best of the rest team, McLaren, sign Gasly? Gasly has been rumored for many teams this year such as McLaren due to poor drives from Ricciardo. Gasly has put in nothing but impressive drives all season driving his Alpha Tauri, which is barely a midfield team car. Gasly deserves a seat with a top team, but is that team Red Bull with the second driver curse still in action? Let us know the silliest silly season rumor you have heard so far by leaving a comment below.
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