Red Bull was wary of Sergio Perez suffering another dip in form ahead of the start of the 2024 season, and now it has become a reality. He had a similar slump in 2023 and things are eerily similar this time around. Over the last month, Perez has been nowhere near the top five but Team Principal Christian Horner continues to have faith in him to make a comeback.
“Checo [Perez] in the first four, five races this year was fantastic, we just need to get him back into that headspace”, suggested Horner as he defended Perez’s recent form.
“He’s a confidence-driven driver. He’s back on the points here, drove a decent race, hopefully, he’ll take some confidence out of that for the coming races.”
️ | Christian Horner defends Checo’s performance: “If I’m not mistaken I think we extended our lead today?”
“We need Checo in the mix, he and the team know that. If he’s on the back end of the top eight you lose strategic options, whether you split it or so on, Checo in the… pic.twitter.com/iD5fwBpGVk
— RBR News (@redbulletin) June 24, 2024
After Red Bull’s strong start to the year, Ferrari, McLaren, and Mercedes have all come to life. That’s why Perez scoring just eight points in the last four races is unacceptable on Red Bull’s part, a team hoping to win the Constructors’ Championship for the third time in a row.
Plus, since Canada, McLaren seems to have had a better car than Red Bull. Mercedes too, is on the rise with Ferrari not so far away. If Perez continues to underperform, Red Bull’s grasp on P1 in the standings could be under serious threat.
Perez is under more pressure because Red Bull recently announced his contract extension, even though his form has been abysmal. The team publicly stated that retaining him was the correct call, but to the rest of the F1 community, Perez has to prove a lot more to show his worth.
Red Bull needs to improve as Max Verstappen keeps the team in the championship fight
Despite Red Bull not being the outright dominant team anymore, Max Verstappen keeps winning. He doesn’t cross the finish line in P1 as comfortably as he did last season, but he manages to get the job done. According to him, it is because his team makes fewer mistakes, despite not having the fastest car.
However, experts claim that Verstappen’s brilliance is what keeps him and Red Bull on the top. The Dutchman knows that his team is in a precarious position of losing the top spot. “I have been saying for weeks that we need to bring more performance to our car and everyone in the team knows that as well”, said Verstappen to Motorsport.
Up until last year, Perez and Red Bull were able to save face by finishing P2 in the standings, owing to the others’ inferiority. This year, however, there are three other teams with six motivated drivers ready to pounce on any opportunity at hand.
Red Bull’s technical issues could be causing problems for Perez as well. In that case, it is up to the Milton-Keynes-based outfit to rectify the situation as soon as possible and get the Mexican driver into the podium places once again.
