The loss of key figures
The delicate moment that Red Bull is going through, between Max Verstappen‘s dissatisfaction and the agreement reached between Gianpiero Lambiase and McLaren for 2028, has at the same time generated rumors in the driver market. Everything focuses on the figure of the four-time Dutch world champion, with his hypothetical transfer to another team (or even a retirement from F1) which would inevitably free up a seat in Milton Keynes. But who would be the most suitable driver to replace Verstappen?
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Verstappen’s successors
In recent weeks there have been several opinions, including that of Riccardo Patrese, winner of 6 GPs in his career. In an interview released to BettinLounge, the former driver did not rule out Carlos Sainz, while at the same time acknowledging how risky the Anglo-Austrian team’s card might be at this moment: “At the end of last year, he was brilliant – explained the man from Padua about Sainz – he brought Williams to a level it hadn’t reached for many years. Now he might be unhappy and think that the car and the team are not in a good position. But if he wanted to leave, where would he go? It’s hard to think he could return to Ferrari, it’s difficult for him to find a place at McLaren because they have two good drivers, Mercedes is out of the question. So, leaving a team like Williams would make no sense. Maybe he could go to Red Bull, but they are losing all their key figures, in the end they might even be worse than Williams. It’s not an easy situation for him at the moment. But I think Williams last year showed real improvement. They have a good engine because it’s a Mercedes engine. They arrived late because they couldn’t do the tests in Barcelona, but we’ll see at the end of this month if, after the forced break, they manage to present a better car”.
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Other difficulties
Patrese also focused on a team in clear difficulty like Aston Martin, even last in the Constructors’ standings and with Fernando Alonso having finished only once. Completely unexpected results on the eve of the championship, even more so with the arrival of Adrian Newey, but for Patrese there is only one way to get out of this serious sporting crisis: “It all depends on Honda! From the car’s point of view, with Adrian Newey they have the best engineer they could have, but he is not able to solve Honda’s problems. Honda has to solve them, and we know how strong they can be. Of course, at the moment they have big problems, but I am confident that Honda will recover. They are very resilient and very intelligent. They will not give up, and one day they will have a good engine. It will be then that Aston Martin, thanks to Adrian Newey, will be able to return truly strong”.
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