Former F1 driver criticizes Red Bull over mid-season driver change trend following Daniel Ricciardo’s sacking

Former F1 driver Jenson Button, who is currently racing in the World Endurance Championship (WEC), has criticized Red Bull over its famous trend of replacing underperforming drivers mid-season. Button called it a “strange” habit as it takes a driver at least a full season to prove their skills.

Last year, Red Bull appointed Daniel Ricciardo to its junior team VCARB (formerly known as AlphaTauri) as a replacement for Nyck de Vries due to performance issues. However, after an unimpressive performance from Ricciardo this season, the team has decided to replace him with young driver Liam Lawson.

This is not the first case of such treatment, as a long history of drivers have suffered similar fates, even during Red Bull’s debut year in the premier class when Christian Klien was sidelined from Grands Prix in the 2005 and 2006 seasons. Button described the trend as “unusual” and something he had never experienced in his career.

Notably, Red Bull’s rivals Mercedes and McLaren have not followed this trend, as they never made mid-season driver changes for performance reasons. Given Red Bull’s track record of changing drivers between Formula 1 seasons, Button revealed that this makes him uncomfortable. On the Sky Sports F1 podcast he said:

“It’s funny because there’s really only one team that brings drivers in in the middle of the season, takes drivers out in the middle of the season, or three races later, six races later, and that team is Red Bull and…” [RB].

“It’s unusual, and I’ve never experienced that in my career, unless someone stuck it in the wall every race and said, ‘You know what? We can’t afford to have you in the car.’

“So it’s a strange thing. I’ve never felt comfortable with that, I always feel like a driver deserves a season where he can really show what he can do, because that’s it, right?”

“It’s a championship and it’s about how many points you can score this season, not just half of it – but they’ve always done it differently.”

After Ricciardo, the driver being investigated by Red Bull appears to be Sergio Perez, who has not won a single race this season, in contrast to his teammate and championship leader Max Verstappen, who has seven wins so far in 2024. The Mexican driver’s poor form was a problem for him. Red Bull’s points collection was reduced as McLaren took top spot in the constructors’ championship after the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

While Perez secured a contract extension with Red Bull in June, the team appears to be developing a new strategy. It seems to be thinking about using a young driver alongside Verstappen in the future who can maintain a narrow lead over the Dutchman.