Max Verstappen ‘never wanted’ Daniel Ricciardo to leave Red Bull, Sergio Perez says ‘future is in my hands’

Sergio Perez is not concerned about his recent poor form or Daniel Ricciardo’s return to Formula 1; watch all sessions from the Hungarian GP live on Sky Sports F1, starting with P1 on Friday at 12pm; F1 Juniors will be live on Sky Showcase and Sky Sports Mix on Sunday

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Daniel Ricciardo says he is delighted to be making his Formula One return with AlphaTauri in Hungary, and admits his is eyeing a future return to Red Bull

Sergio Perez insists his future is in his hands but is keen to focus on the two F1 races prior to the summer break, rather than whether he will be with Red Bull beyond this season.

Question marks about Perez’s future have grown after he failing to reach Q3 at the last five events and Daniel Ricciardo’s return to F1 at AlphaTauri has only exacerbated the pressure.

Christian Horner says Red Bull plan to retain Max Verstappen and Perez for next year, as per their contracts, but admitted Ricciardo is viewing AlphaTauri as a way to get back to Red Bull for 2025. Perez’s contract runs out at the end of 2024 and Verstappen’s in 2028.

“I’ve been in F1 for 13 years so I don’t think further ahead. I don’t even have time to discuss what’s going on with Daniel. It’s a great opportunity for him. I’m focusing on Hungary and Belgium, I’m not focusing on 2025,” said Perez.

“It’s in my hands. I’m a winner, I don’t like having bad weekends. It’s not what I’m here for, I would rather be at home doing something else.

“I’m here because I know I can do it and I’ve done it before. People on the sofa forget how much on the little detail we are. We’ve seen it with other drivers and teams – they have had difficult periods. But they don’t have 20 replacements after each session.”

Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez have both been helped by Daniel Ricciardo this year at the Australian has been on the Red Bull simulator

Perez has also only had one podium in the last five races after being forced to come through the field from disappointing qualifyings. At the same time, team-mate Verstappen has won each Grand Prix and is 99 points ahead in the drivers’ championship.

Asked if his one lap pace is a concern, Perez answered: “It’s not a concern. Qualifying has always been a different situation and we haven’t dealt with it as good as we could. But there have always been some external factors, it isn’t pure pace that has gone away.

“The deficit I have been experiencing with the car in the last few races, whenever there is a change in condition. It tends to get wider. That’s been something that has caught us out. The last five races there have been a change in conditions in qualifying, so that has put us on the backfoot.”

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Ted Kravitz says Daniel Ricciardo could challenge Sergio Perez for his Red Bull spot next season if he’s able to prevent Alpha Tauri from finishing last in the Constructors’ Championship

Tsunoda: I don’t care about extra attention

Yuki Tsunoda largely beat De Vries during their 10 races together as team-mates at AlphaTauri, leading the qualifying and race head-to-heads 8-2.

Tsunoda revealed he has talked to the Dutchman and says he will “stick to what he’s doing” against Ricciardo.

“Maybe I don’t recognise how much attention we have got. At the same time, I don’t really care because it doesn’t make much difference to me. You have to beat your team-mate in F1. I will stick to what I was doing in the previous races,” Tsunoda told Sky Sports F1.

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Yuki Tsunoda is not paying too much attention to Daniel Ricciardo replacing Nyck de Vries as his new AlphaTauri team-mate

“Daniel gives us good knowledge to our team from his experience and I can learn a lot of things from him – how he behaves in the team and how he drives.”

He added: “Once he gets confidence, he will be quick. Even if he becomes quick, I will learn from those things and hopefully I can be even quicker than him.”

Verstappen: I never wanted Ricciardo to leave

Verstappen was Ricciardo’s team-mate between 2014 and 2018, before the Australian left for Renault in 2019 and joined McLaren in 2021.

The decision to leave Red Bull was Ricciardo’s and Verstappen says he wanted him to stay at the time.

“I spoke already quite a bit with Daniel last week – I could see he was very excited, also after driving our car,” said the two-time world champion.

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Max Verstappen has welcomed Daniel Ricciardo back to the Formula One grid, but admits he’s disappointed to see Nyck de Vries lose his seat at AlphaTauri

“It’s great to have Daniel back on the grid within the family. I never actually wanted him to leave. We know that we get on really well. If Daniel does well where he is now, then of course you have the opportunity to go back up. So it’s all open, to be honest.”

For the first time since 2013, there will be two Australians on the grid. Back then it was Mark Webber and Ricciardo, 10 years on it’s Oscar Piastri and Ricciardo.

“I’m very happy for him to be back. I remember watching when it was two Aussies last time around,” said Piastri.

“It’s very, very cool – we’re from a long way away, and it’s pretty rare to have two of us at the same time. So from a country with such a small population relative to Europe, it’s very cool to have two of us on the big stage.”

Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo were reunited in a F1 press conference for the first time this year in Budapest

Sky Sports F1’s live Hungarian GP schedule

Friday July 21
8:55am: F3 Practice
10am: F2 Practice
12pm: Hungarian GP Practice One (session starts 12:30pm)
2pm: F3 Qualifying
2:45pm: F2 Qualifying
3:40pm: Hungarian GP Practice Two (session starts 4pm)
5:15pm: The F1 Show

Saturday July 22
8:45am: F3 Sprint
11:15am: Hungarian GP Practice Three (session starts 11:30am)
1:10pm: F2 Sprint
2:15pm: Hungarian GP Qualifying build-up (Sky Showcase)
3pm: HUNGARIAN GP QUALIFYING (Sky Showcase)
5pm: Ted’s Qualifying Notebook

Sunday July 23
7:20am: F3 Feature Race
9am: F2 Feature Race
11am: Porsche Supercup
12:30pm: Grand Prix Sunday – Hungarian GP build-up
1:30pm: F1 Juniors: Hungarian Grand Prix (Sky Sports Mix and Sky Showcase)
2pm: The HUNGARIAN GRAND PRIX
4pm: Chequered Flag: British GP reaction
5pm: Ted’s Notebook

You can stream the Hungarian Grand Prix and more with NOW for £21 a month.