Red Bull sources believe ‘world-class’ driver is ahead of Liam Lawson in queue to replace Sergio Perez

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Only time will tell whether Sergio Perez’s recovery to 7^th place at the Hungarian Grand Prix will be enough to save his seat at Red Bull Racing beyond the summer break.

It was another race weekend for Sergio Perez that contained one monumental mistake as a crash in Q1 forced him to start 16^th on the grid.

Perez will be relatively satisfied that he managed to score a handful of points at the end of the race, finishing ahead of George Russell who was the other front-running driver who suffered an ignominious early exit from qualifying.

However, with Max Verstappen not having the race he would have liked, Red Bull once again couldn’t rely on his teammate to pick up the slack.

McLaren made a significant dent in Red Bull’s lead in the Constructors’ Championship with their one-two finish.

It leaves Red Bull in a very difficult position knowing that right now, Sergio Perez isn’t going to do enough to help them retain their title.

A report from The Race has shared that there’s been a change of thinking within the Red Bull team about who will replace Perez if they let him go during the summer break.

Perez has clauses in his contract allowing Red Bull to cancel his deal if he’s a certain distance behind Verstappen in the standings.

That gap is now insurmountable before the summer break, forcing Red Bull to make a tough decision after the next race in Spa.

Liam Lawson was expected to be Red Bull’s chosen replacement for Perez for the Dutch Grand Prix if there wasn’t any improvement from the 34-year-old.

However, Daniel Ricciardo may now be the driver who steps up to take the Mexican’s seat.

That’s despite the ‘world-class’ driver, as described by Audi team boss Andreas Seidl to The Race, once again being beaten by his teammate Yuki Tsunoda in Hungary.

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Daniel Ricciardo now Red Bull’s chosen replacement for Sergio Perez

The report from The Race highlights just how much the thinking is changing at Red Bull knowing that a key deadline is looming.

Lawson appeared to still be Red Bull’s chosen driver at the beginning of the Hungarian Grand Prix weekend but that thinking has changed over the past few days.

Instead, Ricciardo is now seen as the ‘most pragmatic’ choice by Red Bull sources to earn a promotion into Perez’s seat.

Although he’s not at his peak this season, his experience racing at the front may make him a more sensible choice than Lawson.

The Kiwi would be jumping into the car with very little experience and the pressure really on to support Verstappen in both championships.

However, the situation is so precarious that it wouldn’t be a surprise if everything changed once again if there’s an outlying result at Spa.

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Daniel Ricciardo could live out his Formula 1 dream before potentially leaving the sport

Ricciardo’s race at the Hungaroring didn’t go to plan and his teammate ended up on a much more effective strategy.

It meant the Australian was always unlikely to be in contention to score points, while Tsunoda added another two to his tally.

Ricciardo admitted last year that his dream was to drive for Red Bull again one day.

Christian Horner is a huge fan of Ricciardo’s and might hand him that opportunity if Perez’s position becomes untenable.

However, Ricciardo’s also in a precarious position with RB set to become a junior team once again soon enough, especially with Isack Hadjar currently leading the Formula 2 championship.

It may be a case that Ricciardo has to kick on at Red Bull during the final 10 races of the season to secure his F1 future.