Helmut Marko has labelled Carlos Sainz's form as "fascinating" as the Ferrari driver continues to be linked with a Red Bull 2025 drive.
The contract of incumbent Sergio Perez expires at the end of this season, with the likes of RB pair Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda fancying their chances of joining Max Verstappen for next term.
Sainz is another name that has been thrown into the mix, following a strong drive to third in Bahrain before a dominant win last time out in Australia, only two weeks after missing the Saudi Arabian GP due to an appendectomy.
The three-time grand prix winner is leaving Ferrari to make way for Lewis Hamilton, with Red Bull boss Christian Horner indicating that Sainz would be in consideration following his Melbourne win.
Motorsport advisor Marko has a key say in the driver line-ups, in his assessment of former Red Bull junior driver Sainz, backed Perez to keep the seat if he can fix one area.
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"Of course his form is fascinating," Marko told Laoula1 about Sainz.
"Checo has had three good races this year. In Melbourne, he fell behind, thanks to a damaged floor and tyre wear, and his only weakness is qualifying.
"If he improves on that, we won't have to think about anything [in regards to making a change for 2025 to the driver line-up."
As for the battle between Ricciardo and Tsunoda at RB, Marko is puzzled by the former's lack of performance in the opening few races.
"We are puzzled over that, he is generally slower than Yuki," he said of Ricciardo.
"Something is not working for him, which is surprising, because during winter testing he was doing just fine."
"The question at the moment is: 'Has Yuki become a high-flyer or is Daniel so weak?' After three races, on three completely different circuits, there is no objective answer to that yet."
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