Some Red Bull staff are now ‘missing’ second driver Christian Horner let go amid Yuki Tsunoda misery

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Yuki Tsunoda may have hoped that the arrival of Laurent Mekies, his former team boss at Racing Bulls, would be a turning point for his season. But his scoreless streak continues.

Tsunoda sparked some long-awaited optimism when he reached Q3 at Spa last month, but that quickly dissipated when he slipped to 13th in the race. He would then suffer a fourth Q1 exit in 12 races at the Hungarian Grand Prix.

There are some mitigating circumstances. Red Bull apologised to Tsunoda for a strategic blunder in Belgium, and the car was simply slow at the Hungaroring – as evidenced by Max Verstappen finishing ninth, his worst result since the same event in 2021.

But there’s a limit to how many allowances Red Bull can make. The promotion of Tsunoda at the expense of Lawson has clearly been a failure up to this point, with the second driver crisis at Milton Keynes ongoing.

Sergio Perez is missed at Red Bull as Yuki Tsunoda toils

Veteran Italian sports journalist Leo Turrini has graded the performance of each team at the start of the summer break for Sky. Red Bull, who were on for their worst constructors’ position (fourth) since 2015, only score five out of 10.

Verstappen has ‘pulled a few rabbits out of his hat’, most notably four pole positions and two victories, but the team are said to be suffering from the loss of Adrian Newey. In a volatile car, Tsunoda has contributed just seven points.

Double that, and Red Bull would be bottom of the constructors’ championship. That sharply underscores their present overreliance on Verstappen.

Intriguingly, Turrini claims that ‘some people’ at the team are even ‘missing’ Sergio Perez, who was let go by Christian Horner and co. at the end of last season. Perez had signed an extension for 2025, and possibly 2026, but a dramatic drop-off in form saw his deal terminated.

Perez scored 152 points last year, which was enough for eighth in the standings. He did only manage 51 in the last 18 races, but that’s still a much higher rate of production than the team have seen this year.

Sergio Perez could make F1 comeback with unexpected team

In a recent interview, Perez claimed Red Bull had apologised to him. There may be a feeling that they were too eager to blame the Mexican rather than address fundamental handling issues.

The good news for Perez, following his ignominious exit, is that his reputation has improved this year without so much turning as a wheel. That could pave the way for an F1 comeback.

It’s been suggested that Cadillac have chosen Perez as one of their desired drivers for their 2026 debut. But nothing has been signed at this stage.

A wild rumour that Perez could be an option for Williams emerged last week. James Vowles is considering ‘a range of possibilities’ even though Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon have signed multi-year deals.