Is Perez’s tenure with the team about to end as Red Bull’s competitors close in?
As his F1 struggles persist, pressure is mounting on Sergio Perez’s position at Red Bull.
The Milton Keynes-based team had been struggling for years to find a suitable teammate for Max Verstappen, with Alex Albon and Pierre Gasly falling by the wayside. When the Mexican joined in 2021, he was the answer to the team’s problems.
Even though Team Principal Christian Horner and Motorsport Advisor Helmut Marko have reiterated that Perez has a contract through 2024, a string of disastrous race weekends have raised doubts about his future.
So how long can he hold on to his spot?
A season of struggles
Red Bull’s ultimate goal is to secure a first one-two Drivers’ championship finish in the team’s history.
Perez is currently on course to achieve that feat for the team as he holds a 30-point advantage over Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton.
But the fact that he trails teammate Verstappen by 209 points with five races remaining highlights how far behind the competition he has been since the Miami Grand Prix.
His problems began in Monaco, where a crash in qualifying resulted in an abject Grand Prix with no points, and there is no doubt that Perez’s confidence suffered greatly.
Despite the RB19 dominating the rest of the field, he didn’t qualify until the Hungarian Grand Prix. This left him with too much to do in the races, and in an instant, the championship challenge was over.
After the summer break, Perez’s momentum appeared to be returning, and his second-place finish in the Italian Grand Prix gave hope that his challenging streak had ended.
Whilst he made no contact with any other car and was hampered by starting on the unfavoured Hard tyres, his progress through the field compared to Mercedes’ George Russell – who was hit by teammate Hamilton and forced to pit at the end of the first lap – was a stark reminder of Perez’s difficulties of late.
Three separate penalties for violating track limits would strip him of his actual finishing position and leave him with just one point for 10th place.
It was a huge missed opportunity for Hamilton, who was thrown out of the race after his collision with Russell and ensured that the battle for second place remained in the balance.
Why should Red Bull worry?
Pérez’s struggles last season did not negatively impact Red Bull’s success.
He narrowly missed out on second place behind Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc in last year’s final event and as mentioned above, he is sitting in the lead for the double this season. But as Red Bull’s attention turns to defending its title next season, Horner and Marko will become worried about McLaren’s resurgence.
Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri have dominated Red Bull since the summer break, thanks to their dual attack, while Perez has struggled to reach the bottom of the top 10 – and at times dropped out of it.
If the Woking-based team continues its upward trajectory over the winter and next season, Red Bull could face a legitimate title challenge.
This is despite the innovation Mercedes will aim to deliver what will likely be the first of the new breed for the Silver Arrows, who abandoned their original aerodynamic concept at Monaco and have since run racing with mesh design.
Ferrari is also likely to introduce a new car that has changed from a clamshell shape to a more Red Bull-like look earlier this quarter.
With all three teams and Aston Martin likely to improve over the winter, Red Bull will desperately need Perez and Verstappen to lead consistently to help the Dutchman gain points for the constructors’ championship .
Perez has proven he has the speed to succeed – look to Saudi Arabia and Azerbaijan for proof – but if his form continues like this over the past five races, Red Bull could very well can end the fear of losing the title afterwards. season. With Daniel Ricciardo waiting in the wings, the question will be:
“Would Ricciardo have done worse?