Sergio Perez has a massive presence online among fans as he is able to add up to a whopping $33,000,000 in revenue for Red Bull. He is responsible for 65% of the team’s merchandise sales, even more than teammate Max Verstappen. Despite being so important to the team, F1 expert David Croft has claimed that Red Bull can still sack him.
Croft believes that the Mexican’s results have just not been good enough despite rediscovering his form in the last two races. This is because prior to the race in Hungary, Perez failed to make it to Q3 on five consecutive occasions.
We had a great start, the important thing was to make sure we finished the car without damage and to score some good points.
The goal is to stay on the podium for the rest of the yearTuvimos un gran comienzo, lo importante fue asegurarnos de terminar el auto sin daños y sumar… pic.twitter.com/gnqeST67H3
— Sergio Pérez (@SChecoPerez) July 30, 2023
As a result of his dip in form, the 33-year-old now finds himself a staggering 125 points behind Verstappen in the championship. It is this reason why Croft believes that Perez absolutely needs to consistently deliver results if he is keen on keeping his Red Bull seat.
“That is not going to save him…“: Croft explains why Red Bull can sack Perez
While appearing on the most recent episode of the Sky Sports F1 podcast, David Croft explained how Sergio Perez finds himself in a predicament. The 53-year-old made his remarks when asked if the Mexican’s position is safe in the team because he is second in the championship and is not a problem to Max Verstappen.
“Checo (Perez) helps sell a lot of cans of Red Bull in North America and Latin America. He brings a lot of sponsorship money to the team which is important, even in these cost cap times. But that is not going to save him if his results don’t come up to where Red Bull want“, explained Croft.
Croft then added that even though Perez may help Red Bull in selling as much as 65% of their merchandise to Mexico, he still needs to finish at least second on most occasions if he is to keep his seat at the team. However, it is pertinent to note that despite all the speculations surrounding the 33-year-old’s future, he has yet managed to secure his services with Red Bull for at least the next season.
Christian Horner has confirmed Sergio Perez has nothing to worry about
Despite many experts claiming that Sergio Perez is at risk of losing his seat at Red Bull, team principal Christian Horner has dismissed all such speculations. As quoted by ESPN, Horner said earlier this year, “Everybody’s fully behind [him]. Anybody talking about replacing Checo is wide of the mark“.
Similarly, Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko also revealed (as quoted by crash.net) that Perez’s future at the team is secured. The Austrian also explained how the Mexican can start delivering results now, having given up on his championship dreams.
While it is safe to assume that Perez’s future is secure at Red Bull for 2024, he could be replaced the season after. Daniel Ricciardo has emerged as a top candidate for his seat, having made his return to the F1 grid this season with AlphaTauri.
