Red Bull Would Be ‘Screwing’ Max Verstappen, Not Sergio Perez- If They Had to Screw Someone at All

Sergio Perez’s Red Bull future was reportedly decided at the meeting after the Belgian GP. Reports suggest that Christian Horner and Co. decided to let the Mexican continue with the team for the remainder of the season. However, many questions have been raised against the same given Checo’s recent performances.

Although Perez’s form has been poor and the Mexican has failed to finish in the Top 5 since the Miami GP, it is believed that Red Bull decided to keep him because of the sponsorship money. Some believe that Red Bull deliberately screw Checo to give Max Verstappen the advantage as the No.1 driver. However, Joe Saward has come to retaliate against the same with the sales logic.

Red Bull wanted to dismiss Sergio Perez, but Liberty Media prevented it

Formula 1 rights holder Liberty Media asked Red Bull to reconsider the Perez dismissal. They feared a huge drop in revenue at the Mexican GP on October 27 without national hero Perez. But Marko hinted:… pic.twitter.com/xlbzB8LkZ8

— Marc | Formula 1 (@433_marc) July 30, 2024

“The argument does not really hold water because if Perez was as good as Verstappen, there would not be any need to screw him because Red Bull sells more cans of drink in the Americas than it does in the Netherlands and thus if anything, they would screw Max if they wanted to screw one driver or the other on the basis of drink sales”, said Saward in his Blog – Green Notebook.

It is believed that Red Bull designed a car around Verstappen’s driving style. The Dutchman likes an oversteering car while Checo prefers an understeering car. Alex Albon suggested that the car is what it is. It’s just that Verstappen sets up the car on the knife’s edge. Hence, he’s able to extract more out of it while managing to keep it all together.

Nonetheless, other than Perez’s seat, other things were discussed at the Red Bull meeting as well. Reports suggest that Christian Horner and Helmut Marko are looking to help Checo turn things around. But how exactly are they going to do it?

Red Bull to Change Behavior Towards Sergio: “Give Perez More of What He Needed”

Christian Horner has been vocal in explaining how Red Bull has given Sergio Perez enough chances and time to figure out what’s hindering the performance. The team has been supportive of Perez. Regardless, one of the outcomes of the meeting was to further give Checo what he wanted out of the car.

“It is understood that one of the outcomes of the discussions between Horner and Marko was that if Red Bull could find ways to give Perez more of what he needed from his car, then that was a better route to delivering results than throwing someone new in”, wrote Jonathan Noble according to Motorsport.

 

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While it’s pretty vague as to what might be changed, one can speculate specific suspension components to help Perez’s driving style. Another option might be to sacrifice a few races and try riskier setups to see what suits the Mexican driver the best. 

Aston Martin did a similar thing last year where they sacrificed the US GP and compared two setups. A few weeks later, Fernando Alonso was on the podium in the ailing AMR23.