A three-race F1 audition? Perez & Ricciardo's mission to wow Red Bull

The answer, sadly, has to be yes. The evidence has stacked up: Red Bull, currently the best team in F1, cannot rely on its second driver to deliver if its first finds himself undone.

I hate to write that. Genuinely. Step back a moment and it’s a twisted state of mind to wish anyone to lose their job. That’s why in this case I don’t wish it, but with a heavy heart still think it’s probably the best course – and inevitable. A top racing team should not bank everything on one driver, ever. Max Verstappen is human (even if he is admittedly a particularly tough example of the species). He could fall ill or get hurt. What then? Would Perez really carry the team through a crisis? On what we’re seeing, you’d have to say no.

The next question, if Christian Horner followed that logic and came to the same conclusion, is who should replace him? Daniel Ricciardo, yes? He’s back on the books, clearly wants it and by happy coincidence has just pulled off his own Lazarus act with a fine drive in an AlphaTauri that surely only compounded the Mexican misery for poor old ‘Checo’.

Except Horner will need to see more evidence before he pulls any trigger. Ricciardo has done it once. Can he do it again at Interlagos, and again in Vegas and once more in Abu Dhabi? The final three races of the year amount to an audition for the Aussie, to prove he is genuinely back. If he is, the decision almost makes itself.

Is there anyone else? Do Horner and Helmut Marko have any other options? It’s surely too early for Liam Lawson, despite the moments of promise he showed in his Ricciardo subbing role. The Kiwi didn’t do enough to be catapulted straight into the ‘A-team’ against a man like Verstappen, and the danger is clear: a quick and painful Nyck de Vries-style burnout.

The ideal options, on the admittedly significant assumption Red Bull wants the very best driver to complete its line-up, are all tied up elsewhere. Lando Norris. Charles Leclerc. Fernando Alonso… Now there’s a thought! One ‘The Internet’ has lobbed in with gusto over the past few days. Imagine the look on Verstappen’s face. Better still, that on his dad’s.

No, surely the big decision about who the team should pin its faith on long-term as a genuine and trusted foil to Verstappen will need to wait for another day. Red Bull must tread carefully not to undermine or unsettle the amazing formula it has already created with its amazing (if at times charmless) triple world champion.

Then again, what if Ricciardo’s revival was a one-off? What if Yuki Tsunoda outperforms him over the final three races? It’s hard to make a case for the Japanese being ready for the A-team. So should they stick with Perez after all, whatever the outcome in the next few weeks? That’s the potential conundrum for Horner and Marko, even if the boss’s arm around the shoulder last Sunday backs up the fine public words about keeping the faith with the brittle Mexican.

In his column in the December issue of the magazine, out this week, it’s a subject Johnny Herbert also ponders. Like most of us, he finds himself focusing on Norris as the most obvious primary target for Red Bull, before questioning whether diving head-first into the lion’s den is really the best option for such a driver.

The nub of the problem always circles back to Verstappen – because no one so far can live with him, in a team that revolves around him, in a car that suits his specific driving style. Admittedly it’s a nice problem to have. Verstappen has clearly taken his place among the F1 greats over the course of the past few years. But while he remains at large, will Red Bull ever be able to truly function as a genuine two-car attack? If not, what happens if (hopefully when) Mercedes, Ferrari, McLaren or Aston Martin get their act together? The team needs a credible double-act, but also one that won’t combust – and that’s the trick.

Setting aside Perez’s brief highlights, the last time Red Bull got close to a fully functioning two-pronged assault was when Ricciardo was at his best. Whether he’ll ever get close to it again is what we might be about to discover. My hunch is we won’t have long to wait.