F1 fans have favourite to replace Perez if Red Bull axe falls

Daniel Ricciardo is favourite to replace Sergio Perez if Red Bull decides to swing the axe and replace the under-performing Mexican, according to RacingNews365 readers.

Perez's form has nose-dived beginning with the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Imola, scoring just 11 points in the six races since as Red Bull's rivals close in on the world champions.

The patchy form was not a problem in 2023 given the utter dominance of the RB19 machine, but boss Christian Horner was clear that an improvement in form was expected for this season, which was delivered in the opening rounds with four podiums and a further two top fives in the opening six rounds.

However, since Imola, Perez's form reads eighth-DNF-DNF-seventh-17th in grands prix and he has fallen to sixth in the standings, just ahead of Mercedes pair George Russell and Lewis Hamilton. 

RacingNews365 understands that Perez, who signed a new two-year deal before Canada, has clauses in his contract which stipulate that he must be within 100 points of Max Verstappen after the Belgian Grand Prix and within five places in the championship. 

As of the British GP, he is 139 points behind and five places in the championship, meaning his future is uncertain. 

With this in mind, RacingNews365 gave fans three options - the most likely ones as to who would replace Perez if Red Bull decided to make a change mid-season. 

With just under 2,000 votes cast, Daniel Ricciardo emerged as favourite with 730 votes picked up. 

Third driver Liam Lawson, who recently tested the RB20 was next most popular, as reader Bart Moonen explained why it might be too soon for Lawson to go up against Verstappen. 

"Lawson's time will come, so he is better off to go to VCARB as the expectation and the pressure would not be as great," they wrote. 

"He would be eaten alive if he went straight into RBR and more chance of failure, so let Ricciardo do the hard work and grab the seat, and wait for Max to go to Mercedes if he so chooses. Dan would do it justice."

Brum also agreed that Lawson should be in F1, but doubted the viability of the Red Bull seat.

"Lawson deserves a seat, but it would be stupid to throw him directly into the Red Bull," they wrote.