Red Bull dilemma with second driver ‘simply screwed’ verdict ahead of Liam Lawson test

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As Red Bull put Liam Lawson to the test in an outing that could decide Red Bull’s 2025 driver line-up, if not that of this year’s Dutch GP, Allard Kalff has warned no team-mate will match Max Verstappen as the second driver is “simply screwed”.

Stepping up to Red Bull’s senior team in 2016, Verstappen saw off the challenge of Daniel Ricciardo who opted to leave the team at the end of the 2018 season when it seemed the higher-ups were all in the Verstappen camp.

The second Red Bull driver is “simply sc**wed.”

Ricciardo’s shock exit, reportedly a surprise even to team boss Christian Horner, meant Pierre Gasly was promoted earlier than Red Bull had wanted.

He lasted all of 12 races before he was demoted in favour of Alex Albon. But while the Thai-British racer lasted more than a season, his racing career was paused when Red Bull dropped him to a test driver role and put Sergio Perez in the car in 2021.

There too longevity has not been guaranteed.

Although Red Bull shrugged off his 2023 slump to honour the second year of his extension and even followed that up with another two-year deal, his form of late has team boss Christian Horner admitting this is “unsustainable”.

Perez is reportedly facing the chopping block if he’s more than 100 points behind Max Verstappen at the summer break, and with two races until then, he’s 137 points down.

That paves the way for Red Bull to put another one of their drivers in the RB20 alongside Verstappen for the final 10 races of this season.

Kalff, however, wonders if anyone can do the job alongside the reigning World Champion.

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“Max Verstappen joined Red Bull and had a team-mate at the time, Daniel Ricciardo. He left with his tail between his legs to another team,” Kalff said on the Viaplay program ‘In de Slipstream‘.

“Then Pierre Gasly came along, he got in the car next to Max. He was driven around his ears by Alex Albon in a Toro Rosso. ‘You know what, we’ll swap them around’.

“Alex Albon next to Max Verstappen. He was at the top of a list at the time, that was the list of ‘we’ll spin off the track’. The rest was drama.

“He couldn’t stand in the shadow of Max Verstappen, although he had been a bit unlucky when Hamilton drove him off a few times when he could have made it to the podium, but oh well.

“In the end, Albon was also written off, because he too could not get within half a second of Verstappen.

“‘We’ll take Sergio Pérez, because he happens to win a Grand Prix.’

“He’s lucky that the car worked right away and he was close to Verstappen and played a good role when Max Verstappen was able to win his first championship. He was the ultimate second driver.”

Times, though, have since changed.

Although Red Bull dominated the first two seasons in F1’s ground-effect aerodynamic era, this year Ferrari, McLaren and Mercedes have all won Grands Prix.

Without Perez scoring big points, Red Bull face a genuine threat in the Constructors’ Championship and need a second driver who can consistently score points.

Kalff, though, fears Red Bull’s No.2 is “screwed” with an RB20 that suits Verstappen.

“Now we have a situation where the car doesn’t work again and so the second driver is simply sc**wed, because it doesn’t matter who you put in it,” he said.

“They don’t do anything with that car. Whether you put Albon, Gasly, Pérez or Ricciardo in it, it’s all nothing.”

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