Sergio Perez announced his contract extension with Red Bull at the Canadian GP. Yet, the Mexican hasn’t done anything in terms of performance to justify the Austrian team’s trust in him. With reports of Perez being replaced if he doesn’t perform well enough, his former McLaren teammate Jenson Button has given his verdict if Perez fails to deliver in Hungary.
“He needs to be scoring some points at least. Even if he’s not directly behind Max. They can’t let it go on forever”, said Button according to Motorsport Week as McLaren is inching closer to Red Bull in the championship.
Warning Perez about a possible termination, Button added, “I think in the next race if he’s not scoring points again – soon enough they’ve got to get him out of the car and put someone else in.”
| 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
Helmut Marko recently highlighted the performance clauses in Perez and Ricciardo’s contract. The #11 driver has failed to get in the top five since the P4 finish in Miami. Ricciardo, on the other hand, has shown some promise with points finishes in Canada and Austria, despite being in the struggling V-CARB car. Reports suggest that Perez might be replaced if he doesn’t perform in Hungary and Belgium.
Liam Lawson also tested with Red Bull at Silverstone following the British GP. The New Zealander can be a possible replacement for Ricciardo at V-CARB. It is understandable that the field is closer than ever but Perez needs to do the bare minimum to be at least in contention for a top-five finish.
McLaren is now only 78 points behind Red Bull in the constructor’s championship. With Mercedes in contention for wins and podiums, Red Bull can lose the lead in the constructors’ standings with just a few subpar results.
Perez’s subpar performances can help McLaren win the Constructors championship
Perez was in a comfortable position in 2023, where even if he finished 10+ seconds behind Verstappen, he would still be on the podium. However, the field has closed up now with just a couple of seconds deciding the winner.
With Perez constantly crashing, finishing out of points, or scoring single-digit points, McLaren is aware that they can take the constructors championship. Both Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris have been bringing home a solid chunk of points compared to Verstappen single-handedly pulling the Red Bull cart.
“Whenever you have two cars up the front versus one it opens up some opportunities and it’s always good for point scoring – it’s always a good thing to have”, said Piastri according to Racing News 365. Zak Brown is aware of the situation as he said, “Sergio Perez underperforming is what’s opening the window for us”.
Not only Perez, but Red Bull also needs to buckle up and find performance by bringing some upgrades. There’s only so much Verstappen will be able to do with an underperforming car.
