Aston Martin and Red Bull.
The ink will be dry on Sergio Perez’s newest Red Bull extension before F1 heads to Canada, while rather than being the new team boss, Aston Martin are lining up Mattia Binotto for the role of Chief Technical Officer.
Formula 1’s silly season rumor mill claims this.
What’s behind the latest Red Bull reports?
Perez has managed to retain his position as a Red Bull driver this season, narrowly holding onto his race seat and securing an impressive second place in the 2023 Drivers’ Championship.
Despite signing a two-year extension with Red Bull in 2022, there were speculations that his struggles last season might result in Red Bull reconsidering their commitment to him for the second year in 2024.
Last year, he emerged victorious in two out of the initial four races. However, his performance in qualifying gradually declined as he repeatedly failed to progress to Q1 on Saturdays.
However, despite his efforts to improve, he only achieved five podium finishes following his qualifying struggles in Monaco. None of these podium finishes resulted in race wins. In contrast, Verstappen emerged victorious in 16 Grand Prix races during the same period.
However, since Red Bull’s sole demand from Perez is to secure second place behind Verstappen, he successfully fulfilled their requirement as he held a 50-point advantage over Lewis Hamilton in the battle for the runner-up position behind the dominant Dutch racer.
He had a strong start this season, finishing as the runner-up to Verstappen in three out of the first four races. However, he missed the opportunity to take advantage of Verstappen’s retirement in Australia where he finished in fifth place. In the last three races, he hasn’t been able to provide support to his team-mate.
After a disappointing qualifying session, Perez suffered from a backmarker melee, resulting in a DNF. Consequently, he has now fallen to fifth place in the Drivers’ Championship, with P4 and P8 being his previous positions.
During this season, both Ferrari and McLaren are aggressively challenging Red Bull with their improved cars. Perez currently trails Charles Leclerc, who holds second place, by a margin of 31 points, and is also just five points behind Lando Norris in third place.
Christian Horner, including PlanetF1.com among the media, emphasized the importance of Perez’s point-scoring ability for Red Bull.
He stated that it is crucial for us to ensure that both cars are able to score points, as we should not underestimate Ferrari and McLaren’s potential in both championships.
However, it is always the “but” that brings about the change, he included: “Checo’s initial six races were remarkable, as he showed great strength by qualifying on the front row and achieving second and third place finishes, earning substantial points. Our primary goal is to regain that sense of confidence and avoid any decline.”
However, despite the presence of some indicators suggesting a decline, Helmut Marko’s assertion that Red Bull desires to finalize their line-up prior to the summer break does not significantly impact our decision-making process, according to Horner. He stated, “To be honest, it’s not primarily about those signs. Our decision will be made at the appropriate moment.”
Doesn’t it clearly indicate that it’s not pre-Canada? However, since there is no strong indication of Carlos Sainz returning to Red Bull, it would be logical for Perez to continue for at least one more season.
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Mattia Binotto to Aston Martin rumours continue
However, it’s not just the drivers who are grabbing attention during F1’s silly season.
Former Ferrari team boss Mattia Binotto was spotted at Imola earlier this month, as reported by Italian publication La Gazzetta dello Sport. Binotto was seen heading towards Aston Martin hospitality, where he engaged in a discussion with their determined owner Lawrence Stroll.
But while they claimed it was “concrete interest” in making Binotto their team principal, f1-news.eu says the position being offered to the Italian is in fact that of Chief Technical Officer (CTO).
According to the publication, it is suggested that Binotto could assume the position of Chief Technical Officer (CTO), which has been vacant since Andrew Green’s departure in early 2023.
Binotto will assume a new position where he will oversee Dan Fallows, the technical director at Aston Martin. While Fallows will remain responsible for designing the car, Binotto will concentrate on establishing technical frameworks and working alongside Martin Whitmarsh, the CEO of Aston Martin Performance Technologies, to develop the overall strategic vision.
Fallows, along with team principal Mike Krack, will remain in charge of overseeing all daily operations of the team.
Given his background as an engineer in his early F1 career, Binotto’s strength lies more in the CTO role rather than as a team boss at Ferrari.
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