After another dreadful weekend at the 2024 British Grand Prix, time is running out for Sergio Perez at Red Bull Racing.
The past six races have yielded 15 world championship points for the Mexican, form that is not expected of a driver who regularly has access to the fastest/ second fastest car each weekend.
In 2023, the sheer dominance of the RB19 allowed Perez to still collect podium finishes when performing well below teammate Max Verstappen, with the constructor's championship a foregone conclusion after the first few races.
However, the steady progression of McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes this year, means that pole-positions and race wins are fiercely competed for each weekend.
Using his generational talent, Verstappen has still managed to hold on to his large championship lead, but with Mercedes winning the past two Grand Prix, and McLaren competitive each weekend, even that could start to reduce.
So, what has happened to Sergio Perez so suddenly?
A strong start
To look at where things went wrong, we need to first look at how 2024 started.
The opening rounds of this season seemed like 2023 V2 with Red Bull taking a 1-2 finish in three of the opening four races, which subsequently saw Perez rewarded with a new two-year contract.
Solid, clean driving with no mistakes saw Red Bull race into a huge lead in both championships, with the Mexican perfectly executing his expected role, pleasing all in the team.
After a troubling end to the 2023 campaign, Perez was back and starting to silence the doubters questioning his position at a top constructor.
However, the podiums would stop after the Chinese Grand Prix, when McLaren and Ferrari began to massively increase their performance.
The downfall
After going out in Q2 at Imola, finishing p8 whilst his teammate won the race, Perez described the weekend as a ‘one off’, with plans to return to the podium fight at the next race in Monaco.
However, the 34-year-old suffered a Q1 exit for the second consecutive year in the principality, before being taken out by Kevin Magnussen in a scary first-lap incident, a consequence of his poor qualifying.
This could still just be labelled as a blip, but next came Canada, a track the Mexican has struggled at immensely in the previous two years.
Another Q1 exit, followed by a crash in the race, this time through no fault of his own, had people starting to ask questions.
The past two Grand Prix had also seen Mercedes and Ferrari both start taking pole positions, meaning Verstappen needed more help than ever up at the front.
Yet still, Perez and his downwards trajectory was gaining rapid momentum.
Whilst the world champion was fighting the now faster McLaren in qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix, Perez was behind an Alpine and only managed an eighth-place finish in the race, whilst once again his teammate battled to a hard-fought victory.
Another sub-par performance from Perez in Austria coincided with Verstappen desperately needing his teammates help in an intense battle with Lando Norris, which ultimately ended with George Russell winning the race, meaning the Mercedes driver was now only seven points behind the Mexican in the championship standings, an unthinkable scenario after the differing performance of the two cars at the start of the season.
Finally, we have Silverstone.
With tricky conditions in qualifying, the 20 drivers had to be on their toes, using all of their skill and experience to stay in the fight for a good starting slot on Sunday.
They seemed to be managing, but as the track dried, an oversteer moment at copse corner caught Perez out, depositing his RB20 in the gravel, ending his Saturday in Q1 for the third time in five races.
A poor strategy and complete lack of pace saw a no score in the race once again, with serious questions now being asked about his job security.
Crunch time
So, what’s next for Sergio Perez?
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has consistently backed his driver to turn things around, but the British Grand Prix saw the Mexican’s place at the team finally up for debate.
When speaking to F1, Horner admitted this level of performance couldn’t go on.
“[Perez] knows it’s unsustainable to not be scoring points – we have to be scoring points in that car, and he knows that,” the Team Principal said. “He knows his role and his target, so nobody is more eager than Checo to find his form again.”
Rumours around the paddock have suggested that multiple clauses in the six-time race winners' contract, including championships standing and number of points behind Verstappen, could allow the team to swap him out, in a similar fashion to Pierre Gasly in 2019.
This could be for Daniel Ricciardo, Yuki Tsunoda or Liam Lawson, with the latter set to carry out a Silverstone test for the team, much like Ricciardo last year, which ended with the Aussie replacing Nyck De Vries at Alpha Tauri.
With two races until the summer break, where Red Bull would have the time to properly assess the situation and plan for the future, time is running out for Perez.
Hungary and Belgium will no doubt see Mercedes and McLaren competing with Red Bull for the victory once again, with Perez likely to be needed as back up for Verstappen.
If he is once again absent at both events, it could be the end of the Sergio Perez/Red Bull relationship in Formula One
