Impressive was generally the word that sprang to mind when thinking about Sergio Perez’s Red Bull career after the first eight races of the season, but things have not been plain sailing since then.
The Mexican took his maiden pole in Jeddah, won his third grand prix in Monaco, and out-qualified imperious team-mate Max Verstappen three times in the opening eight rounds of the 2022 season.
Over the course of the whole year, Perez has only been an average of half a second down on the Dutchman in qualifying, so are things really that bad?
At the moment, no. The 32-year-old’s deficits have become bigger in recent rounds, but it must be noted that he has been dealing with set-up changes on the Red Bull that have not suited him at all.
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It could be argued that Pierre Gasly and Alex Albon had the same issue when they were pushed into the senior side at a young age, but with experience comes pace, and Perez has shown plenty at Red Bull.
That pace, looking at it right now, will not be enough to win him a world championship and, having stood on the podium only twice in the last eight races, he will need to be performing better next season.
He will not be under any illusions about that, and neither will the hierarchy at Red Bull, but there are options out there that may tempt them.
One of them is Nyck de Vries, who in 2019, won the Formula 2 Championship, and in 2021, claimed the Formula E title.
The Dutchman has somehow not ended up with a full-time drive in Formula 1 though.
On a terrific weekend in Monza at the last race, the driver market saw another introduction when de Vries took the wheel of Albon’s Williams after he fell ill with appendicitis.
At less than two hours’ notice, de Vries was called in to partner Nicholas Latifi, and he out-qualified the Canadian, before scoring points in the race.
It was a dream debut for a free agent any team would surely be glad to have in their ranks, and the 27-year-old is now on the radar.
He has been in conversation with AlphaTauri, Alpine and indeed the Williams team since Monza, so there are options out there for the Sneek-born racer.
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The Red Bull junior team are looking for another driver to join their F1 project in light of Pierre Gasly’s proposed move to Alpine, and they have not been able to secure the services of Colton Herta due to the FIA’s super license rules.
De Vries would be an ideal replacement for Gasly if Alpine are able to come up with a suitable offer to buy the 26-year-old out of his contract that runs until the end of 2023.
The former Mercedes EQ certainly has a good chance of becoming a member of the Red Bull family next year, but will it be with the main team? That is very unlikely.
Disclaimer: This is an opinion article and the views contained within it are strictly of the author.