Photo: Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool
Sergio Perez’s F1 future at serious stake as Red Bull has ‘done all they can’
Tereza Hořínková
News.gp journalist and a girl with big dreams
Christian Horner suggested that Red Bull might have to rethink Sergio Perez’s place on the team after his difficult home weekend in Mexico.
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Sergio Perez has recently admitted that his season has been terrible. He hasn’t won a race this year, and his last podium finish was way back in April at the Chinese Grand Prix.
Last week in Mexico, things only got worse for the Red Bull driver in front of his home fans. His weekend started badly when he was knocked out early in Q1, putting him in a tough spot for the race.
In the main event, Perez faced even more setbacks. After the start he quickly moved up from P18 to P13, however, was given a five-second penalty for parking too far forward on the grid in his starting slot.
Though he managed to gain some positions back again, his race took another turn for the worse when he collided with RB replacement for Daniel Ricciardo, Liam Lawson, at Turn 5. The crash damaged Perez’s car, making it hard for him to keep up and costing him any chance at scoring points.
The Mexican finished the home event in seventeenth place but practically last as three drivers didn’t complete the race either due to a crash on lap 1 or technical issues.
After the race, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner spoke about how challenging the weekend had been for Perez and the team has tried to help him through this rough season, but also hinted that he needs to deliver results soon.
“Checo again has had a horrible weekend. Nothing’s gone right for him this weekend,” he told F1 TV.
“He knows F1 is a results-based business and inevitably when you’re not delivering, then the spotlight is firmly on you.
“As a team, we need to have both cars scoring points and that’s the nature of F1. From the team’s perspective, we’re working with him as hard as we can to try and support.
“I think we’ve done everything that we can to support Checo, and we’ll continue to do so in Brazil next weekend, but there comes a point in time that you can only do so much.”
As Ferrari moved ahead of Red Bull in the Constructors' standings after the Mexican Grand Prix and the team fell 54 points behind McLaren, the Milton Keynes outfit is forced to make decisions as soon as possible.
