Sergio Perez recently got a two-year contract extension with Red Bull alongside Max Verstappen. However, that doesn’t seem to have any significant impact on his downward trajectory in 2024. F1 pundit Jolyon Palmer believes that it is now next to impossible for him to save his seat despite the new contract.
“I think he’s in trouble,” Palmer noted on the BBC’s F1: Chequered Flag podcast. “He’s been in this situation for the last couple of years where he starts the season well and tails off. This year he’s tailed off earlier than in recent seasons and he’s tailed off deeper as well. And what we’ve seen in the last couple of years, he doesn’t recover from this until the winter… I don’t see how he can come back from this, to be honest.”, he added.
Speaking on Red Bull’s situation, Palmer also mentioned how the team can’t keep on going with the same driver lineup. He thinks that the Milton Keynes outfit would be better off with any of their other drivers like Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda or maybe even Liam Lawson, who is still relatively inexperienced.
Of the six races since the Miami Grand Prix, where Perez finished in P4, he has not been able to finish in the top five in any of them. He has only scored points in three races with two P8s and a P7 finish, two DNFs, and a P17 finish last time around at Silverstone.
What makes the Mexican’s situation even worse is that the team has not shied away from criticizing his recent run of form. Red Bull’s motorsport advisor, Helmut Marko has said that “everything is open”, addressing the uncertainty around Perez’s future.
Who is likely to be the replacement for Perez at Red Bull?
There is a deadline till the summer break looming on Perez as per the reports of performance clauses in his contract. The 34-year-old needs to find his form in the upcoming two races – the Hungarian and the Belgian Grand Prix. If he fails to show any improvement in the next two races, his Red Bull days may very well be over.
Red Bull has plenty of options when it comes to replacing Perez. Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda, the two V-CARB drivers are the frontrunners for getting a seat alongside Verstappen. However, the Milton Keynes team also recently gave Liam Lawson a shot at the RB20 during a filming day at Silverstone to check his progress.
Christian Horner has also said in the past that Red Bull might look outside their driver pool to find a replacement for Perez. His comment came after the Australian Grand Prix, which was won by Carlos Sainz. So, Sainz might also be in the picture for the Red Bull seat, despite those links dying down in recent months.
If Red Bull were to sack Perez during the summer break, it would affect the driver market dramatically seeing how it is already in disarray due to Sainz’s delay to decide his future.
