Sergio Perez was a late arrival to the Austrian Grand Prix after becoming unwell overnight, leading to him missing Thursday’s preparation and media duties.
The Mexican is coming into the latest race weekend off the back of a string of disappointing results, picking up 21 points from the past three races and failing to finish on the podium since the Miami Grand Prix. Ahead of Red Bull’s home race, the team says he has recently fallen ill and needs time to recuperate ahead of Friday’s track running.
“Checo won’t be at the circuit today,” a Red Bull spokesperson said. “He became unwell last night and is taking the day to rest to ensure he’s in the best possible health for this weekend’s race.”
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Perez will need a quicker recovery than normal given the sprint weekend format in Austria, where qualifying for Sunday’s grand prix takes place on Friday afternoon after a single practice session, and there’s a standalone event with a short qualifying session and the sprint on Saturday. Perez won both races across the first sprint weekend of the season in Azerbaijan.
Red Bull is confident Perez will be fine to drive on Friday, but in the unlikely event that he is unfit to take part in the race weekend, it is understood that Nyck de Vries would most likely be promoted into the Red Bull because Yuki Tsunoda does not have a seat for the constructors’ champions’ car.
Reserve driver Liam Lawson would then be called upon to take over the AlphaTauri from the Dutch driver. Daniel Ricciardo is not scheduled to be at the Austrian Grand Prix, with his reserve duties set to resume at Silverstone.