Villeneuve Stands Up For Perez Amid Replacement Speculations: 'Stop Saying It'
F1Friday, 15 November 2024 at 14:00
Former F1 driver and the 1997 Champion Jacques Villeneuve defended Red Bull's Sergio Perez amid speculations about his potential replacement.
The Red Bull Racing F1 team is currently standing third in the Constructors' Championship with 544 points. Out of these 544 points, Max Verstappen amassed 393 and Sergio Perez only 151.
The 34-year-old Mexican driver is currently standing eighth in the Drivers' Championship, far behind his teammate who is leading and might seal his title already during the upcoming race weekend in Las Vegas.
There has been a lot of speculation about Perez's potential replacement (despite his contract) as he hasn't been able to finish in the top five for the last 15 Grand Prix races.
When Christian Horner was asked whether Checo will be driving for the team in 2025, the team principal of Red Bull Racing didn't confirm it, and instead, he suggested F1 is a results-based business.
Motorsport.com reported that the team from Milton Keynes might be interested in replacing Perez with Franco Colapinto. Jacques Villeneuve, however, doesn't think so, as he defended the Mexican driver in his latest interview with Grosvenor Sport.
"Colapinto deserves a race seat. But there might not be one available. It's very simple. Everybody is saying he will take the Perez seat. But Perez is there, and he's under contract."
"It's been 10 months now that people have been saying Perez is out at the next race. Stop saying it. He has a contract."
"He brings sponsorship, and stability to the team. Verstappen is happy with him. And who knows how much of the difference is because Perez is a bit lost right now, which can happen or just Verstappen being so amazing."
"So put another driver in there who doesn't do any better, what have you achieved? They know internally because they have other drivers with the Red Bull junior team."
"The purpose of the Red Bull Junior team is not to put Colapinto with the big cars, it's to build the drivers for the bigger cars."
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