This year, there has been a lot of criticism of Sergio Perez’s performances. While his teammate, Max Verstappen has won the Championship with 2 more races to go, Sergio Perez sits 8th in the standings and cannot move up since the difference to the driver ahead is more than 50 points. This has brought doubt over Checo’s future with Red Bull.
Race after race, Perez is struggling during the qualifying sessions, leading him to fight from the backfield which is challenging with the RB20’s race pace. His teammate on the other hand is qualifying in the top 5 and is competing for race wins every weekend. It is clear that Checo is the reason Red Bull is losing the WCC this year.
While people have been more focused on Perez’s poor performances throughout the year, the Mexican driver thinks he had one of his best starts to a season this year.
Sergio Perez focuses on the positives of the 2024 season
During the press conference ahead of the Qatar Grand Prix, Perez said:
“It was one of my best start to the year, things were looking great. But as soon as we came back to Europe, things took a u-turn. We got a bit lost with the car, a lot of weekends have been too difficult.
“We ended up losing a lot of points and this season was very difficult. But it is how it is, sometimes things don’t go your way.”
Helmut Marko criticizes Sergio Pérez:
“We need two drivers to finish in the points.”
“For our staff, it’s a huge deal because their bonus depends on our position in the Constructors.”
[via @FormulaDirecta]#F1 #LasVegasGP pic.twitter.com/afskvEg9FM
— Fastest Pitstop (@FastestPitStop) November 24, 2024
Although his results for most of the season were not ideal, Perez did meet Red Bull’s expectations at the start of the season. During the first 5 races, Checo scored 4 podium finishes. But since then, he has not been on the podium even once and has not even finished in the top 5 since Miami.
Perez thinks this is mainly because of problems in the RB20. But why is Verstappen’s pace much greater than Checo’s? The theory is that Verstappen has the ability to drive around issues with the car. He is more adaptable to the RB20. Checo on the other hand is more sensitive to the car’s issues. He claims this is why his performances have not been at the level of the Dutch driver.
But there is another theory which is more popular among fans. In all his years racing in F1, Perez had never driven for a top team until he came to Red Bull. With driving the fastest car, there is a lot of pressure from the team to deliver. This pressure was too much for the Mexican driver to handle. Plus, having Max Verstappen as a teammate does not help.
Will Perez race in F1 next season?
As it stands, Sergio Perez has a contract to drive for Red Bull until the end of the 2026 season. However, given his performances, Red Bull could activate his exit clause and force him out of the team.
After the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Helmut Marko gave some insight into Perez’s future with Red Bull. When he was asked if Perez would drive for Red Bull next year, he said:
“That will be decided after the finale in Abu Dhabi. In any case, Checo is acting as if he would drive for us for another year.”
🚨 | Sergio Perez will discover whether he has a future at Red Bull following a shareholder meeting after the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
“There will be a meeting after Abu Dhabi and the result of this meeting will be presented to the shareholders and they will then… pic.twitter.com/SzJS6BMsfw
— Fastest Pitstop (@FastestPitStop) November 24, 2024
Throughout the season, Perez was confronted about his future numerous times. All of his replies suggested that he would be staying with the team next year. Horner has also been publically backing the Mexican driver. But Marko has now confirmed that the team will evaluate Perez’s performances after the season finale at Abu Dhabi.
Perez will now be focusing on the next 2 races to achieve the best possible result to strengthen his case for staying with the team. If he provides another disappointing result in Qatar and Abu Dhabi, there is a high chance that we will not see Perez driving for Red Bull next year.
