As Max Verstappen continues to shine, Sergio Perez continues to face further scrutiny at Red Bull. To make matters worse, Red Bull have supposedly informed the Mexican that if he cannot finish P2 in the Driver’s Championship with five races to go, he will have to leave the team, as per Globo. But it looks like Perez’s time at the team is already up. The Red Bull social media team have put out a cryptic line of hints. The team have seemingly already sidelined the Mexican as they have now filled their feed with posts about Daniel Ricciardo and Verstappen.
Hence, the question that arises is whether the Milton Keynes outfit is trying to tell the fans something. Having already tarnished Perez’s image after a difficult year, if Red Bull does sack him now, he may not even be able to secure a seat for himself in 2024. Moreover, since most of Red Bull’s recent feed has been about Verstappen and Ricciardo, fans have also expressed their worry for Perez.
🚨Red Bull has reportedly given Sergio Pérez an ultimatum: if he loses P2 in the championship this year, he will be replaced by Daniel Riccardo in 2024.
[@geglobo] #F1 pic.twitter.com/TkFWV3lpNa
— Fastest Pitstop (@FastestPitStop) October 14, 2023
Fans point out Red Bull’s cryptic verdict on Perez’s doomed RBR career
Fans believe that Sergio Perez has seemingly already received the boot even before an announcement has been made publicly. Several of them took to X to share their reactions to Red Bull possibly shunning the Mexican in favor of the potentially incoming Daniel Ricciardo.
rb admin when daniel signed and they finally could pull up the 50gb maxiel archive pic.twitter.com/iULpIy5Vsm
— can (@rosbergcore) October 14, 2023
danny ric all over red bull’s instagram page. what’s going onnnn??
— F1 things 🏎🏁 (@kaikaiiiF1) October 14, 2023
Red Bull have posted Daniel/Max+Daniel like 7 times in the last 24 hours. They couldn’t be anymore obvious even if they tried
— Liz Zwane 🏁 (@liz_zwane) October 14, 2023
guess their lineup challenge (HARD) pic.twitter.com/cU1WWiijQh
— can (@rosbergcore) October 14, 2023
Red Bulls’ attitude recently towards Perez doesn’t bear good news for his future, especially with Max Verstappen having beaten him convincingly this season. Moreover, the last thing the 33-year-old would’ve wanted was this embarrassment. Fans too resonated with his plight on X.
— WTF1 (@wtf1official) October 13, 2023
https://t.co/Cl02OP8dIr pic.twitter.com/mMsCfvaYou
— Luis Rubio (@LRPTY) October 14, 2023
— Laura Leslie (@LauraLeslieF1) October 13, 2023
Perez, however, has clapped back.
Sergio Perez addresses the questions about his Red Bull future
With the imminent arrival of Daniel Ricciardo, Sergio Perez has given his two cents on the whole situation. As quoted by lastwordonsports.com, he said, “Well, right now I have a contract for next year. And it will be important to have a good year. I have the motivation to continue, and I want to stay for more years. Because I believe that I still have a lot to give in Formula 1”.
One thing is clear. Perez wants to stay. But the problem here is that even though the 33-year-old remains committed to pushing his limits to get up there with Max Verstappen, the team has seemingly just run out of patience.
Moreover, if he loses P2 in the standings, it might just be the last nail in the coffin. Therefore, with just five races to go, the onus is on Perez to deliver if he wants to keep his Red Bull seat.
