Sergio Perez, who finished 8th in Spa, continues to disappoint: He completely collapsed”
The Mexican is still not living up to Red Bull's expectations after the Belgian Grand Prix, and his place in the Austrian team has never been in such jeopardy.
He started in second place after achieving the third best time on Saturday … But once again fell in the depths of the ranking. Coming 8th at Spa, Sergio Perez climbs back to 7th place after George Russell’s disqualification for a non-compliant car weight. A result that is not enough, while his teammate Max Verstappen, who started 11th due to his penalty, arrived 5th and climbs to 4th place.
The gap between the two drivers is abyssal. While they have the same car, the Dutchman now has 287 points after the Belgian Grand Prix, still comfortably leading the championship, while the Mexican is in 8th place with 135 points. He has not won any race this year, his last victory dating back to the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in April 2023.
The world champion thus has a lead of 152 points. Simply unacceptable on the scale of Red Bull, while McLaren is not far behind in the constructors’ championship. A crown that the Austrian team wants to win at all costs, just as much as the driver’s championship.
« Sergio knows that for the constructors’ championship, we need to have both cars in front of McLaren, said Helmut Marko, speaking on Red Bull’s television channel, ServusTV, before qualifying on Saturday. « And that has not been the case in the last few races.
« Perez completely collapsed »
The special adviser thus indicated that the Red Bull hierarchy will discuss the future of Sergio Perez as early as this Monday. A performance clause, which would link Perez’s retention to a gap of less than 100 points with Verstappen, could seal his fate. Tests are also planned this week to potentially determine whether Yuki Tsunoda, Daniel Ricciardo, or reserve driver Liam Lawson deserves to inherit the second seat at Red Bull.
This Sunday, after the race, Marko added another layer: Sergio had the opportunity to achieve a good result from second place. Unfortunately, that was not the case. Especially in the last relay, he completely collapsed, where he posted lap times of 1’48s. What seemed so positive in qualifying unfortunately did not materialize in the race, he told Sky Germany.
Asked about Monday’s meeting to assess driver alignments between Red Bull and sister team VisaCashAppRB, he added: “For us, the situation is such that we will also review the overall situation for 2025. We have a number of drivers and we have a concept. But of course, every result is important for Sergio, and an eighth place from second on the grid is certainly not what we expected.” The Mexican has been warned.
« It was a very disappointing race,” said Sergio Perez. “The race started well, I just had a lot of trouble on the straight lines. I don’t know what was happening, but I had to save the battery at the beginning of the first two laps, and I was very weak on the straight lines, and once I managed to clear myself, I charged the pack a bit (…) I think we weren’t good with the tires today. The balance wasn’t there either, so there was a lot to analyze on our side,” he concluded.
