Earlier this year, Red Bull left the entire motorsport community puzzled by extending their partnership with Sergio Perez beyond 2024. What made this move so unexpected was Perez’s run of form in the preceding months. The Mexican was no longer the closest competitor of his title-contending teammate, Max Verstappen. And what’s worse, Perez wasn’t even fast enough to challenge for podiums or even the top five anymore.
Perez was performing way below Red Bull’s standards and, subsequently the collapse of the highly acclaimed ‘Defense Minister’ was extremely evident. Hence, one might wonder, did Red Bull make a mistake by resigning Perez for 2025? Are Horner and Co. now obliged to stick with an underperforming driver who could well cost the team its constructors’ championship this season? Not at all. If anything, Red Bull has only proven to the world why it is considered one of the smartest teams on the Formula 1 grid.
A mistake that hurts me a lot for my whole team. Tomorrow is a new opportunity, and the important thing is to never give up.
Un error que me duele mucho por todo mi equipo, mañana es una nueva oportunidad y lo importante es nunca darnos por vencidos.#NeverGiveUp pic.twitter.com/OppoeJYjqs
— Sergio Pérez (@SChecoPerez) July 6, 2024
Ahead of the British Grand Prix weekend, both Helmut Marko and Christian Horner openly admitted that there was a lot more to Perez’s contract than meets the eye. What’s more, Horner even hinted at performance clauses that might overturn the Mexican’s fate in the coming months. And, according to Fastest Pitstop, the truth is finally out on what the alleged clause is all about.
Sergio Perez on the verge of Red Bull F1 exit?
When Perez beached his car on the gravel during the first part of qualifying in Silverstone, Horner gave out a stone-cold stare coupled with an utter disappointment look on his face. It almost looked like the Briton was done with Perez, potentially plotting a future with Daniel Ricciardo. And what if we tell you that the scenario of Ricciardo returning to Red Bull is pretty much imminent? Here’s why.
Red Bull apparently included two important performance clauses in Perez’s latest contract. One, Perez cannot lose more than a 100-point gap to Verstappen in the championship standings before the summer break. And two, he cannot be five places behind Verstappen in the championship standings. Now, let’s look at the current status.
🚨 | Sergio Perez’ performance clauses include not being more than 100 points behind Max Verstappen after the Belgian GP.
The gap is 119 points right now.
Another one is that he cannot be more than five places behind Verstappen in the standings. #F1 #BritishGP pic.twitter.com/1FpYI3alIz
— Fastest Pitstop (@FastestPitStop) July 7, 2024
As of now, Perez is already 119 points behind the defending champion, which is only set to worsen this weekend after his poor qualifying result. Therefore, the first clause is already broken and could well be unfixable in a weekend’s time. The other clause; Perez is currently in P5 in the standings, but, is only 6 and 7 points ahead of Oscar Piastri and George Russell, respectively. Russell secured the pole position at Silverstone, while Piastri will be starting from P5 as well.
Hence, going by the order, Perez will drop to P7 by the end of this weekend. And if that indeed happens, there will be pretty much nothing that could possibly save him.
Sara Chavan