Marko: "Let's see how he does first and whether he fits in with the team"

Over the past two seasons, Red Bull Racing have had the problem of having an inferior second driver. Max Verstappen had to close the gap to Mercedes, but the second driver struggled to keep up with the speed of the Dutchman. As a result, Pierre Gasly and Alexander Albon have both been replaced, with the latter not even driving in Formula 1 next year.

Albon's replacement, Sergio Perez, is a temporary solution, according to advisor Helmut Marko, with the new regulations for 2022 set to provide a fresh start. "We have a one-year contract with Perez for now. Let's see how he does first and whether he fits in with the team," the Austrian explained in conversation with Motorsport.com.

The choice of Perez was not an easy one, according to Marko, not least because it meant abandoning their own philosophy of giving drivers from their own programme the chance to make the step up to the big Red Bull. "We didn't have anyone for that seat. So to achieve our goals in the championship we made this choice."

Marko does recognise that with Juri Vips, Liam Lawson and Jehan Daruvala, there are enough Red Bull junior drivers on the verge of a switch to F1. "It's also no shame that for the first time in years we are not racing with two of our own juniors," he explained. "By the way, with Yuki Tsunoda, we've also brought the first Japanese since Kamui Kobayashi into F1. So we really did bring a new junior into the sport this year," Marko concluded.