The 2024 Canadian GP weekend wasn’t what Sergio Perez would’ve expected after a disappointing Monaco GP. The Mexican would’ve wanted to bounce back but instead was eliminated in Q1 followed by a race filled with struggles. He fought with the backmarkers for most of the race before retiring. However, Perez is now back with a master plan to turn things around for the Spanish GP.
With the Spanish GP on the horizon, Checo explained how he needs a successful weekend following the disaster in Montreal. The Red Bull driver revealed that he needed to reset a bit and has been at the factory. He has been trying to find out how he can get the maximum out of his car. Heading to Spain, Perez is confident that he will extract the most out of the RB20.
️ | Checo ahead of Spanish GP aiming for a comeback
“Coming into Spain I know I need a successful weekend, after a disaster in Canada. Sometimes you are forced to reset a little and we have done that since the last race.”
“I have been in Milton Keynes working with the Team… pic.twitter.com/VUu3dsFNOr
— RBR News (@redbulletin) June 18, 2024
“Sometimes you are forced to reset a little and we have done that since the last race,” said the #11 driver, as quoted on Twitter (now X). Explaining his masterplan for Spain, he added,
“I have been in Milton Keynes working with the team to try and identify where and what we can do better to ensure I am getting the most out of this car. I am confident in the car and the performance we can execute from it.”
The Canadian GP wasn’t only meant to be a comeback race for Perez after Monaco, but also a race to show that Red Bull made the right decision. Perez’s contract extension news came just before the weekend in Montreal as many raised eyebrows at Red Bull’s decision. The six-time Grand Prix winner would’ve liked to prove the critics wrong but the result only worsened the situation for him.
Speculations around the Austrian outfit retaining Perez for 2025 started well before the Canadian GP. However, it wasn’t as big a surprise, as the results in 2024 have not been all that bad for the Mexican driver.
Despite the recent disasters, it’s not all bad for Sergio Perez
The last two rounds have been races that Perez would like to forget. He is known as the king of the street circuits but had a catastrophic weekend in Monaco. The 34-year-old again bowed out in Q1 and got into a first-lap incident with both the Haas cars. This crash ended his race in the Principality within a few hundred meters.
¡Vamos Checo!
We are pleased to announce @SChecoPerez has signed a two-year extension to his existing contract ✍️
Nos complace anunciar que @SChecoPerez ha firmado una extensión de dos años a su contrato actual #F1 #RedBullRacing #ChecoPerez
— Oracle Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing) June 4, 2024
However, keeping the recency bias away, more often than not, Perez has finished in the top five. Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and Japan have all been races where Checo finished P2. The Mexican finished behind Verstappen and didn’t trouble him for the win, completing an ideal team result.
This is exactly what Red Bull expects from Perez, to consistently bring home big points alongside Verstappen to help the team in the constructors championship. However, they wouldn’t want a driver to challenge Verstappen as that would only lead to friction and tension within the team.
Despite having signed a two-year extension with Red Bull, if the bad form continues, the Milton Keynes outfit has the power to not continue with the #11 driver for the second year. This is because the contract is reportedly a 1+1 year deal with performance-based clauses in it.
It is now up to Sergio Perez to pick himself up and put in the consistent performances that he was delivering at the start of the season.
