Why Ricciardo's signing is Red Bull's biggest warning shot to Perez

Red Bull have fired their biggest warning shot at Sergio Perez by placing Daniel Ricciardo in the AlphaTauri car for the rest of the 2023 Formula 1 season. Just as Perez (and Nyck De Vries) have experienced a big dip in performance, Ricciardo arrives fresh and ready to perform. 

De Vries is one of only two drivers to remain pointless in the 2023 Formula 1 season. That being said, his teammate Yuki Tsunoda has only scored two points himself in the current World Championship standings. The car isn't performing well, but De Vries is some distance behind the Japanese driver in all duels. However, there is only an average difference in qualifying of two-tenths. Williams, Haas, Aston Martin, McLaren and Red Bull themselves have a similar or bigger difference between their two drivers in qualifying. 

Not afraid to pull the trigger 

We've seen it all before at Red Bull and AlphaTauri (Toro Rosso). Drivers leaving midway through the season. Daniil Kvyat, Carlos Sainz and Sébastien Bourdais all left suddenly for various reasons. We knew that Helmut Marko and Christian Horner weren't afraid to pull the trigger in the past, but it hasn't happened for a while.

De Vries can now add himself to that unfortunate list. Perez will see this has happened to someone under the same organisational umbrella and start questioning whether it can happen to himself. De Vries was closer to his teammate on average qualifying difference, on the race duel, and on the qualifying duel. Marko and Horner have reminded Perez that they will not stand for subpar performances by making this decision.

Perez hasn't reached Q3 since the Miami Grand Prix over two months ago. Perez can try to answer a poor qualifying performance by working his way through the field. However, the Mexican has just one podium in the last five races. Not good enough when you have a dominant car at your disposal. Let's be honest, in 2023, Verstappen could probably win the Constructors' Championship all by himself. At least, almost. But there are no guarantees that will be the case next year when the likes of Aston Martin, Mercedes, and even McLaren are showing a steep development rate.

Perez cannot keep getting away with these poor qualifying performances. Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton are within touching distance of second in the World Championship. It just wouldn't seem right if Red Bull failed to get P1 and P2 in the World Championship when the chequered flag is waved in Abu Dhabi because of how good the RB19 is. Perez needs the complete package. Saturday and Sunday. 

@gpblog.com What happened the last time Perez got to Q3 #fyp #foryoupage #f1 #formula1 #motorsport #redbull #redbullracing #perez #sergioperez #verstappen original sound - GPblog.com

Ricciardo wanted podium places

When McLaren pushed Ricciardo onto the sidelines one year before his contract expired, questions loomed over where he would go next. Most teams had already sorted their driver line-up. The best most teams could offer was the reserve driver situation. This included both Red Bull and Mercedes. 

Guenther Steiner, of all people, confirmed that conversations took place between Ricciardo and Haas. He said that he wanted too much money. If Ricciardo really wanted to race, he'd have taken that Haas seat. 

In a conversation with Sky Sports last year, Ricciardo said: "So I guess I don't want to just race to race. I want to race with a true belief or understanding that I could be back on the podium ultimately."

Ricciardo was never keen on driving at the back of the grid, and that seemingly included Haas. AlphaTauri are a clear step below Haas. Providing a U-turn hasn't been made on Ricciardo's vision, it seems that he wouldn't take this seat unless he felt he had a realistic chance of returning to Red Bull. Of course, Red Bull haven't said anything publically, but it always seems like a pre-arrangement has been made. Now the ball is in Perez's court to blow that agreement apart. A warning shot has been fired.