Sergio Perez didn’t have the best start to the season. And former F1 champion Jacques Villeneuve is certainly unhappy about that as he heavily criticizes the Mexican race driver for the poor string of results.
“He has had his worst season ever at Red Bull. Normally he would have an amazing first few races. But he hasn’t even had that this year. So, he’s collapsed on top of that! He was already behind Max at the start of the season and now he’s dropped another half a second. That is ten cars on the grid. I don’t know what is going on,” said Villeneuve as per the comments on GPBlog.
In the current drivers’ standings, Perez is currently P5 with 107 points. In comparison, his Red Bull teammate Max Verstappen is yet again at the top of the pyramid with 169 points.
In the mix, the Ferrari and McLaren drivers are making it hard for Red Bull to maintain the status quo. However, despite Carlos Sainz being available in the market, Red Bull announced the extension of Perez’s contract till 2026 on Tuesday.
In previous instances, Red Bull has done the opposite of this. A string of bad results has often ended the drivers’ stints midway. Therefore, Perez’s retention could be due to several key reasons.
Why did Red Bull most likely retain Sergio Perez?
For Red Bull’s leadership, Perez is the deputy driver in the team. With Verstappen, he has managed to gain a cordial relationship.
Usually, drivers of equal caliber tend to destabilize the camaraderie within the team and conflicts often occur. Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes are the paramount examples of the situation described above.
With Sainz coming in, there was no guarantee how his ambitions would have clashed with Verstappen amidst the ever-closing field. Meanwhile, Red Bull boss Christian Horner has publicly backed Perez in recent times, and after the latest contract extension announcement, the Briton has assured the Mexican will be back in his groove.
