Fans back axed Red Bull winner for F1 return

The driver to most recently lose their seat in F1 is the one that fans would most like to see return to the championship.

Over the course of the 2024 F1 season, including the end of the year, there was considerable turnover in the paddock with only two of the 10 driver line-ups remaining unchanged heading into next term.

Whilst Logan Sargeant and Daniel Ricciardo lost their seats mid-season, Valtteri Bottas, Zhou Guanyu, Kevin Magnussen and Sergio Perez lost their seats at the end of the campaign.

It is, however, the lattermost driver that F1 fans want to see return to the grid the most, something that is a very real possibility with Cadillac F1 in the process of joining the paddock for 2026 and beyond, bolstering the number of drives available to 22.

Although falling short of an outright majority, a plurality voters in a recent poll by RacingNews365 showed their support for the recently-fired 34-year-old.

At 43.52 percent, Perez attained just over double the backing of second-placed driver, Ricciardo – although the Australian is believed to not be entertaining the idea of an F1 return.

Aside from the two former Red Bull racers, the only other driver to achieve over 10 percent of the vote was Bottas, who will spent 2025 as reserve driver at Mercedes.

Both Perez and the Finnish driver will be eyeing up one of Cadillac’s two coveted seats, with the other expected to go to an American – Colton Herta being touted as the most likely option.

Full results from the latest RacingNews365 poll below. Let us know what you think in the comment section.