Sergio Perez‘s struggles in 2024 continue as he hasn’t registered a podium finish in seven races. Moreover, Perez also failed to score points in three of the last five races. Now, with Helmut Marko and Christian Horner reportedly giving Perez a deadline to improve his pace by the Belgian Grand Prix, the Mexican is bound to receive an upgrade boost going into the Hungarian GP.
“We are just about to unlock a couple of tenths from our side and our life will be very different, back to where we were at the start of the year”, said Perez. Although Red Bull brought a new floor for the British GP, they gave it to Verstappen only as just one was available.
Perez expects to gain “a couple of tenths” from new floor Verstappen had at Silverstone
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Perez will receive the new floor for the upcoming race in Budapest. Although Marko suggested that the floor offers about six points worth of downforce improvement, it’s enough for a tenth or two worth of lap time. Perez does indeed need all the help that he can get as his seat is under threat.
It was recently revealed that both Daniel Ricciardo and Perez had performance clauses in their Red Bull contracts. While Ricciardo has recently performed better, the same cannot be said about Perez.
Amid all this, some reports suggested that Red Bull can swap Perez with Ricciardo or Liam Lawson if the Mexican’s performances don’t improve by the mid-season break. Marko insists that it is during the break that the team will make the decision about drivers.
Hence, it becomes increasingly important for Perez to perform at the Hungarian and the Belgian GP since Red Bull has been losing ground to McLaren and Mercedes in the championship. Both drivers of the Papaya team and Silver Arrows are scoring big points. On the other hand, at Red Bull, Verstappen has contributed most of the points.
Red Bull is at risk of losing the 2024 championship because of Perez’s poor form
Red Bull was able to run away with the championship in 2023 despite Perez’s mid-season performance drop. However, the likes of McLaren and Mercedes have closed the gap significantly and are taking wins off Verstappen.
As a result, both Red Bull drivers need to perform to help the team retain the Constructors’ title. This means that Perez cannot afford to make any more mistakes going forward.
Perez crashed at the Monaco and Canadian GPs. He then found himself stuck in the gravel during the British GP qualifying session.
As a result, he had to start from the back of the grid. Moving forward, if Perez were to have a similar level of performance as he did at Silverstone, then Red Bull may have no choice but to drop him.
