Sergio Perez‘s Red Bull future seems to be up in the air with just two races remaining in 2023. Christian Horner and Red Bull insist that the Mexican will see out his contract despite his poor performances, but things could turn sour for him if he fails to live up to expectations in the coming races. Talking about this, Ross Brawn feels that the Austrian squad should pull the plug on Perez’s Red Bull stint.
Brawn used former world champion Nico Rosberg as an example while asking Red Bull to do the needful. In an interview with Talk (as quoted by Formule 1), Brawn spoke about Mercedes’ dominant turbo-hybrid era years and their driver pairing. Lewis Hamilton was arguably the lead driver. But they also had a championship material contender in Rosberg.
“Then there was also a team with a dominant car, but it included Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton,” said Brawn. The Brit went on to say that because of the intra-team competition, F1 still witnessed beautiful years despite Mercedes’ dominating the sport.
The same cannot be said about F1 at the moment, because even though Red Bull has the strongest car, it is just Max Verstappen who seems to be performing. Regardless, it seems as though Perez’s position at the team will be safe for now, especially after Horner’s latest comments.
Sergio Perez to continue at Red Bull, despite widespread speculation
For the last few months, Perez has been struggling out on the track. The Red Bull bosses too, kept dropping cryptic hints about his future with the outfit. Nonetheless, it seems as though the final decision has been taken and Perez will stay in Milton-Keynes.
“I am absolutely confident and clear that Checo will be our driver next year,” Horner said to Motorsport. “Now, if he was injured or something like that, there are circumstances beyond our control. But the clear plan and therefore the clear intention is that he will continue”.
For the likes of Daniel Ricciardo and other Red Bull seat hopefuls, this will come as disappointing news. However, Perez will be looking to grab this lifeline with both hands and prove to the team’s hierarchy, why he deserves to drive for the strongest team in F1 at the moment.
