As the summer break approaches for Formula 1, Daniel Ricciardo mentions he will keep his "phone on."
Red Bull's frustration with Sergio Perez appears to be growing to fever pitch, as the Mexican driver dropped from second on the grid at Spa to finishing in eighth place.
"That was not satisfactory from Checo," stated the energy drink brand's F1 consultant Dr Helmut Marko immediately following the Belgian Grand Prix.
Max Verstappen maintains his lead in the drivers' championship, but Perez's recent underperformance compared to the lead car has left Red Bull vulnerable in the constructors' championship.
"We are now focusing entirely on the team standings," Marko emphasizes.
"McLaren has already made up ground. We need two drivers who can score points regularly," said team boss Christian Horner.
Perez's future with Red Bull is now uncertain, with the junior team RB set to test Liam Lawson and Ricciardo against each other during a filming day at Imola this week.
"Sergio had the chance to get a good result from second on the grid," Marko remarked. "Unfortunately, he didn't succeed. Especially in the last stint, he completely collapsed."
"For us, the situation is that we also have to look at the overall situation for 2025," the Austrian added. "We have a certain number of drivers, and we have a concept. Of course, every result is important for Sergio, and finishing eighth after starting second is absolutely not what we expected," Marko told Sky Deutschland.
Earlier at Spa, Marko mentioned his first task post-weekend was to return to Milton-Keynes for crucial discussions with Horner. "We will analyse everything and then make a decision," he confirmed late on Sunday.
It's believed that Horner prefers promoting the experienced Ricciardo into Perez's seat, whereas Marko is inclined towards the promising rookie Lawson.
"I'll definitely leave the phone on," Ricciardo smiled when asked about the upcoming summer break. "You never know what will happen. I'm just trying to secure my future in the sport at the moment - so we're talking about next year."
"If there is any news, I'll make sure the phone isn't too far away. We'll see what happens," the 34-year-old Australian added.
Regarding Verstappen, he has not taken a definitive stance on Red Bull's situation with Perez. "I don't think that's our main problem now," the triple world champion said.
"Our problem is that we have to find laptime. We will carefully analyse everything that we have done."
Verstappen finished in fifth place on Sunday, which was bumped up to fourth after George Russell's disqualification. "I think this was the maximum achievable," said the 26-year-old.
"The speed was reasonable, but not very good. From P11 without a speed difference, it doesn't really work."
Marko admits that Red Bull has a lot to contemplate and analyse as F1 heads into the summer break. "We need to look at the new parts we put on the car and analyse whether a smaller update package would have been better. We have to see if we're going in the right direction," he added.
"Mercedes were nowhere on Friday, then they changed a few things and 'poof!', the car worked."
