Sergio Perez has to be on “Red Bull’s radar” after finishing on the podium at the Turkish GP while Alexander Albon was once again in a spin, says Martin Brundle.
Red Bull has yet to confirm its second driver for next season with Perez and Nico Hulkenberg leading the running to replace Albon, should the team decide to do so.
Perez put himself firmly in the shop window at Sunday’s Turkish Grand Prix where he finished second behind Lewis Hamilton.
The result elevated the Racing Point driver to fourth in the standings despite having been forced to sit out two races after testing positive for the coronavirus.
It also, at least Brundle hopes, brought Perez to Red Bull’s attention.
“The soon to be unemployed Perez in the sister Racing Point showed his class and experience almost as well as Hamilton,” he wrote in his Sky F1 column.
“His pace and race craft were excellent, and despite being passed by Charles Leclerc four corners from home, he still managed to seize second place back to equal his best-ever result achieved back in 2012, and his ninth podium.
“Surely he’s firmly on Red Bull’s radar if they decide to change Alex Albon. Perez could undoubtedly have had podiums in Austria, Portimao and Imola too but for some bad luck. And he missed two races with Covid.”
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As for Albon, the Thai-British racer was looking strong at one point, seemingly putting himself in the race for the victory, only to spin out of contention.
“Albon looked great for a while and was catching the Racing Point duo and once again appeared as if he might win the race,” Brundle added.
“But a couple of spins and struggling when the track began to dry out left him in seventh and 46 seconds off the lead.”
The former driver turned commentator also weighed in Lance Stroll’s weekend at the Istanbul Park.
The Canadian bagged his maiden pole position and was leading the race by as much as 10 seconds only to struggled when he swapped onto fresh intermediate tyres.
He finished a disappointing P9.
“Stroll led impressively from pole position, even building a lead of 10 seconds over his team-mate Sergio Perez,” said Brundle.
“But eventually, when he came under pressure from Perez and then pitted for new Intermediate tyres on lap 36, his race began to unravel and his hitherto very calm driving became too aggressive.
“He eventually finished ninth, some 72 seconds behind Hamilton, but he can be proud of his pole and leading the race, although like some others on the grid his speed faded away on fresh intermediate tyres which quickly grained up.
“Racing Point have since said they discovered damage to the underside of the car’s front wing after the race.”
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