Sergio Perez’s two-year Red Bull contract extension became official at this year’s Canadian GP despite his underperformances. However, having not shown improvements since then, Helmut Marko put the Mexican under immense pressure ahead of this weekend’s British GP. Thankfully for Perez, he seems to have responded immediately.
Perez finished FP2 in Silverstone in P3 behind the McLarens of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri. In contrast, his teammate Max Verstappen ended the session in P7, over two-tenths of a second slower than him. This was surprising, considering Perez has been nowhere near the top three since Imola, and also because he rarely outperforms Verstappen, even if it is in a practice session.
Ahead of Friday’s practice, Marko admitted to Red Bull having discussions about Perez’s future. Despite his signing a contract, his subpar results were not impressing the higher-ups at the Milton-Keynes-based outfit and Daniel Ricciardo entered the conversation once again (per AMuS). While talking about the possibility of Ricciardo replacing Perez, Marko said, “We’ll know more by the summer break.”
FP2 CLASSIFICATION
Norris leads a @McLarenF1 1-2 #F1 #BritishGP pic.twitter.com/0RCKg64kiM
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 5, 2024
Perez, however, reacted well to this warning. He sat out FP1 to make way for Red Bull junior Isack Hadjar, and despite not having any track time before the second session, he got the better of Verstappen.
Now, the Guadalajara-born driver will be hoping to carry this form over to the British GP race on Sunday. If not, the pressure that Marko put on him, will only increase tenfold.
Sergio Perez’s Poor Form costing Red Bull in the Constructors championship
Just like in 2023, Perez performed brilliantly at the start of the season and then dropped off. While Red Bull was able to secure the Championship and the 1-2 last year, things are different this time around.
McLaren, Ferrari, and Mercedes have caught up to Red Bull and have slotted into the performance gap between Verstappen and Checo. As such, Verstappen has to carry the Austrian stable single-handedly.
Christian Horner has been supportive of Perez but he too, has asked him to buckle up now. The Red Bull Team Principal said, “We need him up there, supporting Max. There’s two McLaren’s, two Ferrari’s, two Mercedes’ and we desperately need two Red Bulls.”
Perez was beaten by the Haas of Nico Hulkenberg in Austria whereas, the 34-year-old should’ve ideally been in a position to take the win after Norris and Verstappen crashed. With Mercedes and McLaren scoring more points than Red Bull over the past five weekends, the Mexican needs to start producing results for his team to win the Championship.
