Perez: Happy for Ricciardo but doesn't change anything for me

The 33-year-old Mexican is second in the 2023 F1 world championship but 99 points adrift of teammate and soon-to-be triple F1 world champion Max Verstappen after 10 of 22 races.

Eight times race winner Ricciardo has replaced Dutch rookie Nyck de Vries at Red Bull's sister team AlphaTauri for the rest of the season and the Australian has been open about targeting Perez's seat. While Red Bull boss Christian Horner made it clear on Thursday that their reserve, which Dan is, is on loan to the junior team.

Perez's deal expires at the end of next year, but de Vries's abrupt departure has served as a reminder that Red Bull has a history of switching its contracted drivers around or out altogether. He knows he has to raise his game, perhaps not beat Max but at least finish second with the best car on the grid. Which the RB19 is.

"I'm happy for Daniel, he's very motivated to be back, so well done to him," Perez told reporters at the Hungaroring. "It's a great opportunity for him. From my side, it doesn't change anything because I drive for Red Bull."

He also pointed out that there are other candidates for his seat including Ricciardo's new teammate Yuki Tsunoda: "There's not just Daniel out there. It's Yuki, it's more than half of the grid would like to drive for Red Bull.

"So it doesn't change anything," added Perez who won two of the season's first four races and had challenged Verstappen for the overall lead before the Dutch driver powered away and won the last six in a row and started the last five on pole position.

On the other hand, Perez has failed to qualify in the top 10 in his last five races, and only once stood on the podium in the same period, but he said his future was still in his own hands.

Speaking to reporters at Hunagoring, the Mexican veteran of 245 GP starts admitted: "I've had a rough patch, it's true. But I also had a great start to the season. It's just balancing out, looking at those races, what worked, and looking at those bad races and what didn't.

"We just make sure that we make progress weekend after weekend. I’m confident. I've done my work, I’ve done my preparation and I’m ready to deliver a strong weekend. That’s all I can do," said Perez.

Horner said this week that the team planned to keep an unchanged lineup in 2024, "Our drivers are going to be Max and Checo (Perez) again next year, but it's always good to have talent in reserve."

But Horner knows that Ricciardo wants Perez's seat, saying as much in a recent interview. Ricciardo also made no secret that he covets returning to be Verstappen's teammate at Red Bull.