Sergio Perez has been facing a lot of criticism recently over his performance in the last six races. The Red Bull driver has just renewed his contract for the next two years. However, given the recent backlash, it is uncertain whether he will retain his seat.
Furthermore, Perez’s performance this year is in stark contrast to last year’s. In the 2023 season, he had 2 race wins, the second-highest of a driver in that year. His performance has not gone unnoticed by Christian Horner, and fans speculate that the pressure of the seat is finally affecting the Mexican driver.
Good start, full focus for qualifying
— Sergio Pérez (@SChecoPerez) July 19, 2024
Buen inicio, full focus para la clasificación#SP11 pic.twitter.com/ndijq9HI9r
Christian Horner speaks up about Sergio Perez.
During the recent races, Sergio Perez’s performance has not been on par, pushing him to sixth in the driver’s championship from second place. Seventh has been his best finish in the last six races, including two DNFs, an 8th, and a 17th finish.
During this week’s race at the Hungaroring, Perez crashed out of the qualifying, resulting in a P16 start. Christian Horner, the Red Bull team principal, says that he has been “very patient” with Perez’s results, adding that it was the “last thing” the team or Checo required.
He told Viaplay:
“I do think I have shown myself to be very patient, but this was really the last thing he and the team needed… We now have to get everything back together, fix the car, and see what we can get out of it during the race.”
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Horner’s frustration is evident even during the qualifying sessions on camera, and the team is running out of patience with Perez. He addresses the rumors regarding the Mexican driver’s replacement by saying:
“These kinds of discussions should happen internally and not through the media, but it is clear that we cannot keep walking one-legged.”
What happened to Perez during qualifying?
Sergio Perez initially had the ninth-fastest time on the board in Q1 in the Hungarian qualifying; however, due to the rain, the Mexican rotated his car into the walls at the exit of Turn 8, causing damage to the rear end of the car.
Perez is ok, but his Red Bull certainly isn’t…
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 20, 2024
He’ll start tomorrow’s race from P15 at best 😖#F1 #HungarianGP pic.twitter.com/tPGEEw3Lqg
This brought out the first set of red flags of the session, but fortunately, the Mexican remained unharmed. Upon being asked what happened, he commented on Saturday to the media:
“It was really, really bad timing… Unfortunately, I ended up losing the car on the way in, quite late in the corner, and I basically just became a passenger from that point on.”
He made sure to add, when asked about how this affects the future of the Milton-Keynes team:
“[Yeah, of course]—it cannot happen again.”
To the Mexican’s misfortune, Helmut Marko has made more recent comments about his seat. Marko said:
“I don’t know how long Red Bull will continue to look at this and do nothing… I don’t think it makes sense anymore. And he [Perez] knows that himself.”
It is clear that Perez is under immense stress, and his fans and the Red Bull team hope that he can score points this weekend to help increase the constructor gap.
Rohit Kumar