F1 Rumour: Daniel Ricciardo to Replace Sergio Perez While Red Bull Readies Alex Palou For Racing

The Australian driver could be readying himself for a seat in the RB19 or RB20.

We've heard plenty of rumours recently regarding the seat of Sergio Perez, but now, we've heard something directly from the mouth of trusted F1 journalist Joe Saward. He has hinted that the Red Bull driver could lose his seat to reserve driver Daniel Ricciardo while the team readies Alex Palou for F1.

The Mexican driver has struggled to match the pace of his teammate Max Verstappen, and several times so far this season has even struggled with making it to Q3 - a poor result for a driver in the RB19 rocket ship. 

So, it's no surprise that fans and pundits are starting to question Perez's seat, and now we potentially have some answers.

According to Joe Saward, he suspects that Alpha Tauri and Red Bull are going to be moving some drivers around as soon as September:

"There are various other rumours around about drivers, notably involving Scuderia AlphaTauri, where the word is that there could be major changes this year (let alone next year)," he writes.

"One rumours that is interesting is that Indycar star Alex Palou currently had a contractual window that might allow him to jump out of IndyCar and into an F1 drive, before the doors slam shut and he has to stay where he is, with either current employer Ganassi or McLaren.

"The word is that Dr Helmut Marko likes the look of the Spaniard and might offer him an AlphaTauri when the IndyCar season ends in September, which would set him up nicely for next year and ultimately could lead to work at Red Bull Racing as Sergio Perez is not really flavour of the month there because he had completed failed to keep up with Max Verstappen and the fear is that if the team has more opposition next year (we can hope), the team needs a better number two to help win the Constructors’ title as Max might not be able to win it on his own…

"There is also talk of Daniel Ricciardo coming into replace Sergio for a year or two while Red Bull prepares some new juniors…" [sic]

We've heard Palou's name several times in recent rumours as he continues to be successful in his career so far, but it's interesting to hear that Ricciardo may be in the running. 

Of course, we joke about how good it would be to see the Australian behind the wheel of a Red Bull again, but thinking more seriously about it, I think he'd be a great number two for the Dutchman. His albeit short time at Red Bull this season looks like it has matured the driver, with him now not taking his place in a seat for granted. And this maturity is what he was lacking when he originally sat beside Verstappen in the Austrian team. 

I'd love to see Ricciardo back in a seat - maybe mostly for nostalgic reasons - but I'd be very interested to see what he can extract from a current RB.