“It’s Not Because of the Car”: Helmut Marko Pinpoints What Caused Sergio Perez’s Q1 Exit

Less than a week after signing a two-year contract extension with Red Bull, Sergio Perez gets knocked out of Q1 during qualifying ahead of the Canadian GP. Disappointed, Marko reveals that the RB20 (arguably the fastest car of the session) is not to be blamed. It is Perez, who needs to find the answer.

“It’s not because of the car. You can see that from Max. I think it’s more psychological. It was close and when the conditions change, he finds it much harder. But the fact that it is now the third time is painful,” said Marko as per GPBlog.

With Mercedes finally managing to pull off a good qualifying session, the F1 grid could see four teams in the mix for winning races now. As such, Perez finishing P16 in qualifying in Canada will be a worrying sign for Red Bull. Especially because he just signed a contract tying him to the team until 2026.

Qualifying has been Perez’s biggest weakness by far since his Red Bull struggles began. However, he would generally compensate for the same through his race pace. And with the fastest car at his behest, this wasn’t a major issue for the last two years.

A qualy where simply we couldn’t find any rear grip. We found the issue and will give it all tomorrow

Una clasificación en la que simplemente no pudimos encontrar agarre en la parte trasera. Encontramos el problema y lo daremos todo mañana.#SP11 pic.twitter.com/3eptFPQg9d

— Sergio Pérez (@SChecoPerez) June 9, 2024

But with the ever-closing field, where winners of the last three races have been three different drivers, Perez doesn’t hold a similar advantage at the front anymore.

Will Red Bull pull the plug on Sergio Perez?

Perez’s decent camaraderie with Max Verstappen convinced Red Bull to continue with the current pairing. However, with this performance (Canada) not being an anomaly by Perez, Red Bull will be wary of their chances of retaining the Constructors’ title.

Over the years, Red Bull hasn’t hesitated in pulling the plug on a non-performing driver and Perez can see the same fate if his performances don’t improve. For the Milton-Keynes-based outfit, however, sacking Perez will be a financial disaster.

But going by stats, Perez has been nowhere near his teammate Verstappen. Ever since the two were paired in 2021, the Mexican race driver failed to make it into Q3 17 times. 12 times more than Verstappen.

By the time a decision regarding Perez’s future is made, however, the options in the market could be very different.

About the author

Tanish Chachra

Tanish Chachra is the Motorsport editor at The SportsRush. He saw his first race when F1 visited India in 2011, and since then, his romance with the sport has been seasonal until he took up this role in 2020. Reigniting F1's coverage on this site, Tanish has fallen in love with the sport all over again. He loves Kimi Raikkonen and sees a future world champion in Oscar Piastri. Away from us, he loves to snuggle inside his books.

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