The pressure on Sergio Perez is constantly increasing as the Mexican continues to underperform this season. Red Bull teammate Max Verstappen sealed the championship with ease last weekend after the 33-year-old had another torrid weekend. Perez failed to score any points during the sprint and only managed to score one point during the main race after having received multiple penalties for exceeding track limits. Since the Guadalajara-born driver has found it so difficult to match Verstappen this season, there are speculations that Red Bull can replace him. However, McLaren’s Lando Norris is not the favorite to do so, as most experts previously suggested.
The Briton has been heavily linked with a move to Red Bull, with the team’s bosses also having admitted that they were keen to sign the 23-year-old at one point in time. However, Norris declined the offer as he remained committed to McLaren. Since the McLaren driver is not keen to switch teams despite Red Bull’s interest, it seems that the Milton Keynes outfit now have their sights on another driver despite there only being a remote possibility of signing him.
Helmut Marko claims only one driver can replace Sergio Perez
In a recent interview, Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko explained why his side barely has any options to replace the struggling Sergio Perez. Amongst the remaining 18 drivers of the other teams, the Austrian just sees one racer who can challenge Max Verstappen. And that is two-time champion Fernando Alons0.
The 80-year-old stated in a recent interview with Sport1 that Red Bull are still keen to hold onto Perez as they don’t have viable replacement options. “I repeat, Pérez has a contract and we want to respect it. We are doing everything possible to get him back to normal. We simply don’t have alternatives. Otherwise, we could have a problem,” explained Marko (as quoted by soymotor.com).
After stating the same, Marko concluded his remarks by stating that he sees only Alonso as a driver, who is capable of challenging Verstappen in the same car. While Red Bull do not have any feasible options to replace Perez, they have made it clear that they do not believe they have an ideal driving pairing at the moment either.
Christian Horner is not happy with Perez
In a recent interview with Autosport, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner explained how all the top teams, like Mercedes and Ferrari, have a strong driver line-up, something that they do not have at the moment. The Briton believes that if Sergio Perez continues the way he has been performing recently, then they cannot afford to have the 33-year-old for much longer.
“You can see Mercedes have a pair, McLaren have a pair, Ferrari have a pair that are quite tight between the respective drivers. I think we’ve had that at an earlier point in the year. But as the season has gone on, it’s become more variant,” explained the 49-year-old.
Since Horner has now directly issued a warning to Perez, the pressure is all on the Mexican to finish second in the championship. While the Guadalajara-born driver is currently second in the standings with 224 points, he has Lewis Hamilton breathing down his neck. The Briton is just 30 points behind Perez with five races remaining in the 2023 season.
