Perez producing “unsustainable” results

The pressure surrounding Sergio Perez seems to be growing race by race with Red Bull describing his form as “unsustainable” following another underwhelming performance in Silverstone.

Since last standing on the podium in China, Perez has finished in the top four just once and missed the points in three of the seven races.

The latest arrived at last weekend’s British Grand Prix where the Mexican was knocked out in Q1 after spinning into the gravel and finished 17th after a tough race that included a poor early call to take the Intermediates.

Since China Perez has slipped from second to sixth in the driver’s standings as the likes of McLaren, Mercedes and Ferrari have stepped up.

To make matters worse for the Perez, who despite being contracted for 2025 at Red Bull, AUTOSPORT believes a contract clause could kick in seeing the #11 dropped as early as the summer break if he falls 100-plus points behind teammate Max Verstappen.

Currently 137 points adrift, Perez faces a big challenge to get within that threshold across the next two races at Hungary and Belgium before the summer break.

With Red Bull now no longer streets ahead of the rest, Team Principal Christian Horner says Perez needs to step up.

“He knows it’s unsustainable to not be scoring points,” Horner said.

“We have to be scoring points in that car and he knows that.

“He knows his role and his target, so nobody is more eager than Checo to find his form again.

“He’s under pressure. That’s normal in Formula 1 and when you’re under-delivering, that pressure only mounts. 

“He’s aware of that, he knows that and this weekend nothing has gone his way.”

To add to the intrigue, Red Bull Reserve Liam Lawson will test the 2024 Red Bull at Silverstone this week, but Horner played down the significance of it saying its been “planned for a couple of months now”.

But a similar drive at the same track and same time of the year suddenly brought Daniel Ricciardo back to Formula 1 in 2023.

Photo by Getty Images/Red Bull Content Pool

READ THE LATEST ISSUE OF AUTO ACTION DIGITAL HERE

Don’t forget the print edition of Auto Action available via subscription here. For more of the latest motorsport news, subscribe to AUTO ACTION magazine.