Coulthard to Perez: You have to defend your territory

After losing his seat at McLaren at the end of the 2022 Formula 1 season, Daniel Ricciardo found refuge at his old team, Red Bull, but as a third driver, something many see as a threat to Sergio Perez's position within the team.

Perez previously downplayed any threats from Ricciardo's arrival, but speaking to the BBC at a Red Bull F1 showrun in Dublin on Sunday, retired F1 driver David Coulthard had other thoughts on the matter.

"Checo (Perez) will see that there is a real substitute driver there," he said, going on to give advice for Perez on how to change his approach improve compared to double F1 Champion teammate Max Verstappen.

"For Checo to look at how many victories Max had and how many he had, it's not like he is just having to polish a few corners. This is a major rewrite, a software update," Coulthard added.

"If you use the same ingredients in the cake you will get the the same cake. You need to change it if you want something different. He has access to the data of the world champion. He can see where he's quicker, where he's slower. Checo will be quicker in some areas. It's just Max is putting it all together more often than not.

"All the knowledge is there for Checo to lift his performance. If he does then the world championship is there for him to put his hand on. If he doesn't, then he will be another driver, like myself, that won a few grands prix," the winner of 13 grands prix maintained.

The former Red Bull driver weighed in on Ricciardo's struggles at McLaren, and how he envisaged the Australian's future panning out.

He commented: "Daniel, not being where we knew he could be - he just didn't look like Daniel of old so this is about him trying to rebuild.

"He has a great legacy with Red Bull and he left to go off and try and make it big elsewhere, that didn't work so he has come back to the family. If he can get his mind back to what it was when he was having success, then Daniel has to have an opportunity to come back. If this opportunity doesn't manifest itself then that's probably his grand prix career wrapped up."

Going back to Perez, Coulthard referred to his own career when he lined up against F1 Champions, Mika Hakkinen and Kimi Raikkonen, when he was a McLaren driver.

"Having been in a similar situation to Sergio where I was up against Mika and Kimi, you just have to leave no stone unturned," he said. "You do physical training but the only way he can improve his qualifying speed is in the car or in the simulator.

"In nine years at McLaren, I did every test and never missed a race, even when I felt terrible, even when I felt like I was going to be sick after testing, because I knew the minute I let the test driver get in the car it became an opportunity to show how good he was.

"If I don't let him get in the car he can talk all day long. You have to defend your territory," Coulthard warned.

Sergio Perez will start his third season with Red Bull in 2023, and aside from a midseason slump in form in 2022, the Mexican has been a decent second driver alongside Verstappen.