Sergio Perez fits new parts for this weekend’s Hungary Grand Prix but escapes penalty

Sergio Perez's RB19 has been fitted with a new gearbox assembly after his crash during the first practice session in Hungary. This marks his third gearbox unit of the season and he is still safe from a penalty since the allowed number of gearbox changes before incurring a grid penalty is four.

According to a report from the FIA, the following are components changed on Perez's Red Bull -

• CBX X & C - This includes the new gearbox case and cassette
• GBX DL - This includes the gearbox driveline, gear change components, and auxiliary components

Sergio Perez still has a thin margin to keep himself safe from a grid penalty after installing his third gearbox unit. His crash during the first practice session of the Hungarian Grand Prix was certainly interesting.

Sergio Perez's RB19 being cleared off the track after crashing, FP1, 2023 Hungarian GP (Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images)

Checo set himself on his out-lap right at the start of FP1, going around the track, bringing the temperature to the medium tires. On the entry of turn 5, his car touched the grass patch and his left-rear tires lost grip, sending him into a spin and straight to the barrier.

The car looked heavily damaged. It is thought that he was trying to make the most out of the racing line and hence hit the patch of grass.

This happened just five minutes into the practice session and the red flag was triggered. Because his Red Bull was right next to the barrier, marshalls were able to clear up the track within a few minutes.

---

Sergio Perez speaks upon the Ricciardo-to-Red Bull speculation

Sergio Perez

Daniel Ricciardo has been rumoured to be getting the Red Bull seat and replacing Sergio Perez since the latter's performance has been rather unsatisfactory. In the past five race weekends, he hasn't been able to make his way to Q3 during qualifying sessions.

While this should not be the sole judgement for a driver's performance, it is important to note that the RB19 is one of the most dominant cars on the grid.

The car has won every single race in the 2023 season so far, and Checo has won two of them (making his situation more shocking). He has, however, made up a lot of places during a few races.

Even though Ricciardo has been given the AlphaTauri seat (replacing Nyck de Vries for the same reason Perez is being subjected to), the rumours seem to continue.

This is simply because of Red Bull's reputation for getting their drivers changed way too often. However, the Mexican doesn't seem to be focused on that, as PlanetF1 quotes him:

"I’m dealing with my engineers and to be honest, I don’t even have the time to discuss what’s going on with Daniel."

He added further that he is more focused on the upcoming races in Hungary and Belgium than the 2025 season.