Another driver could make his Formula 1 debut before 2024 ends

Aside from the first few rounds of the 2024 Formula 1 season, Sergio Perez has been woeful in the RB20 nearly every race weekend, and he was nearly replaced by Red Bull before the summer break.

However, his Formula 1 career was seemingly saved due to the amount of sponsorship money he brings and his popularity among Latin American fans.

Arguably the biggest reason why Perez was not dropped was the downside Red Bull and Formula 1 would have faced in the Mexico City Grand Prix. However, now that that race has come and gone, there could be another opportunity for Red Bull to drop the Mexican driver before the Las Vegas Grand Prix in under three three weeks.

With Liam Lawson having replaced Daniel Ricciardo at RB about a month ago, Isack Hadjar is the new Red Bull reserve driver and would likely get promoted to RB if Perez is replaced by Lawson in the near future. That could happen in Las Vegas.

Does the move make sense?

After this past weekend, Red Bull closed the gap to Ferrari in the constructor championship to just 13 points thanks to Max Verstappen’s incredible charge from P17 to P1 in Sao Paulo. With only a few opportunities left to gain ground, Red Bull have an important decision to make.

If Christian Horner and Helmut Marko care a lot about finishing higher than third place in the championship and gaining the extra prize money that would come with an improvement, Lawson could be promoted to Red Bull and Hadjar could be announced as the new RB driver alongside Yuki Tsunoda.

While Marko has openly praised Hadjar’s ability and readiness for Formula 1, there are some concerns for the 20-year-old. The biggest one is handling all of the pressures involved, as not only did Hadjar lose grip on this season’s Formula 2 championship, but he would also be thrown into a heated battle between RB, Haas, and Alpine for P6 in the constructor championship.

Not every Formula 2 driver is ready to be thrown directly into Formula 1, and failing to consider that could cost the team dearly moving forward. Should they decide to promote him, he would be the third driver to make his Formula 1 debut this year, joining Oliver Bearman with Ferrari and Franco Colapinto with Williams.