Sergio Perez put on yet another dismal performance at the British GP Qualifying after failing to get into Q2. Following his shock exit, Perez was labeled as a ‘Fraud’ by Lando Norris‘ friend Steve Alvarez Brown, who is part of the Quadrant team alongside the McLaren driver.
The British GP marks the fifth race in a row where Perez has failed to put his car into Q3, making him the only driver in the history of Red Bull to do so. In stark contrast, his teammate Max Verstappen has managed to claim pole position in every single one of these races, while driving the same car.
Perez was struggling right from the very get-go during qualifying in Silverstone. He was in P12 when the session was red-flagged due to Kevin Magnussen’s Haas stopping on the track due to mechanical failure. However, Perez was one of the first drivers to head out when the session restarted.
He put in a lap-time of 1:29.968 which temporarily put him within the top 10. However, as the other drivers started finishing their laps, Perez tumbled down to P16 and was effectively knocked out of Q1.
Sergio Perez comes under harsh criticism yet again
The entire F1 community erupted as soon as Perez messed up yet another qualifying session, continuing his woeful Saturday form. People jumped in to criticize the Mexican driver instantly for failing to get into Q2. So did Norris’ friend Steve Alvarez Brown.
Alvarez Brown, better known as Super GT on the internet, is a part of Team Quadrant, along with Norris. Together with Norris and other content creators, they make videos that are incredibly popular, especially in the UK.
Alvarez Brown posted an image on Twitter that showed an incoming call from a number that has been reported as fraud. Steve captioned the image, “BRB, Sergio Perez is calling me“, indicating that Perez is nothing but a fraud.
There were also quite a few other content creators who were quick to react to Perez’s performance. WTF1 co-founder Matt Gallagher could not believe that Perez got knocked out of Q1 and made Red Bull’s preparations ahead of the race difficult, yet again.
Matt Amys, F1 content creator and the producer at Quadrant put up a video of Daniel Ricciardo warming up in Red Bull overalls. Like majority of the fanbase, he too seems to feel that Ricciardo could line up to replace the Guadalajara-born driver very soon.
Perez’s F1 seat in danger
Perez has been nowhere near to matching Verstappen’s level, despite driving the same dominant car. His continuous string of poor performances will have the Red Bull bosses worried, because his contract runs down at the end of 2024. The Milton Keynes-based outfit has already made it clear that they will need a competitive driver to match with Verstappen, in case Mercedes and Ferrari catch up with them.
It is quite clear that Perez does not fulfill the criteria for being ‘someone who can keep up with Max.’ The 33-year-old has never been able to keep up with Verstappen. The Dutchman won 15 races in 2022, compared to Perez’s two.
In 2023, Perez has two wins to his name. On the other hand, Verstappen is the runaway leader, with seven Grand Prix victories. If things don’t improve for them, there is a high chance that Red Bull turn to other drivers for next year’s seat.
