Sergio Perez signing an extension with Red Bull turned out to be a bittersweet moment for him and the team. While it was nice for Perez to have some stability going forward, it hardly turned out that way as time progressed. The Mexican driver saw his performance take a catastrophic nosedive, leading to questions being raised over his place in the team.
He is currently sitting in P6 in the drivers’ standings with 118 points to his name. Teammate Max Verstappen, meanwhile, is on the top with more than double the points (255). In the last six races, Perez has only managed 15 points, which further puts him in danger of losing his seat.
Peter Windsor, however, believes the stakes are much higher than that. Per him, Perez is not just at risk of losing his Red Bull seat but is also staring down the end of the road of his F1 career.
Formula Passion quoted him as saying, “If he doesn’t improve, it’s not just a question of his future at Red Bull, but it could also become a question of Checo suddenly realizing he doesn’t want to be in F1 anymore and going to do something else. He can’t continue like this, but easier circuits are on the horizon.”
BREAKING: Red Bull have announced a two-year contract extension for Sergio Perez, which will see him remain with the team until the end of the 2026 season pic.twitter.com/ujgbiPkjmK
— Sky Sports F1 (@SkySportsF1) June 4, 2024
Rumors are already rife over the possibility of there being performance clauses in Perez’s contract. According to some, the Guadalajara-born driver might have until the summer break to prove his worth to the team.
The development comes amid Red Bull giving Liam Lawson a test run in the RB19 recently. Lawson drove the car on the filming day at the Silverstone. Meanwhile, Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda are in the running for the seat as well.
Is the threat of losing his seat real for Perez?
Perez may not be in the best of his forms in recent times but several factors favor him. Among those is Ricciardo’s inconsistent form. The Aussie driver has failed to win the confidence of Christian Horner and Helmut Marko so far. With his concentration lying on saving his VCARB seat, the Red Bull ambition might be a little too far-fetched.
Meanwhile, Lawson did not have the best of auditions during the filming run, reportedly. That once again, should help Perez breathe easy, at least for now. Tsunoda, however, has consistently churned out strong results right from the start of the season. Still, the Red Bull top brass is not keen on promoting him, though, as per reports.
Couple these factors with Perez’s commercial value and he still might make a strong case for his stay. His fandom in his home country Mexico is through the roof, leading to massive merchandise sales for Red Bull. Surely the team wouldn’t show him the exit door with no viable alternative. Or would they?
