For the first time since the 2010 Formula 1 season, Sergio Perez won’t line up on the grid this year.
After spells at Sauber, McLaren, Force India, Racing Point and finally Red Bull, the decision was made by team principal Christian Horner and the team’s shareholders to mutually terminate Sergio Perez’s contract at the beginning of F1’s winter break.
Despite becoming the first driver in Red Bull history to achieve a one-two finish in the drivers’ championship alongside Max Verstappen in 2023, there were already some concerns about Perez’s displays.
His performances in qualifying were questioned, but Red Bull’s RB19 was so quick that he could typically make any positions he lost on a Saturday.
However, Perez’s form completely fell away in 2024, losing his seat after 19 Grand Prix on the bounce without a podium finish.
Horner acknowledged Perez was under pressure halfway through the season, but Red Bull decided against a mid-season switch during the summer break.
Red Bull even extended Perez’s contract after his shunt at the Monaco Grand Prix in the hope that it would relieve some of the pressure on him and improve his performance.
Sky Sports F1 pundit and race strategist Bernie Collins was speaking on The Red Flags Podcast about Perez’s Red Bull exit.
She didn’t quite understand why Red Bull weren’t able to help the Mexican solve the issues he was dealing with throughout 2024.
Bernie Collins left ‘frustrated’ by Sergio Perez’s Formula 1 exit
Asked about Perez’s difficulties last year, Collins said: “I’d worked with Checo previously in McLaren, I’d worked with him all of his time at Force India.
“He made a lot of strategies really work, and as for Red Bull, I can’t really comment on what’s exactly going wrong there, but, it’s a bit frustrating in that he’s been in that car for so long against Verstappen, I think he’s Verstappen and his longest-running teammate.
“Obviously in the past, we’ve given Red Bull a lot of flak for getting rid of teammates too quickly, so, they worked with Checo for a long time.
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“But, from the whole package, be it, does the car need to be substantially changed from what Vettel drives and everyone that we’ve put against Vettel, that would appear to be the case. So did that not happen?
“Did they not work together as a group? Surely they could have improved the performance year on year, race on race.
“There’s been real glimmers of it going well.
“Checo has this really good mental strength. He’s lots of family with him at races, it’s often quite hectic, but he’s got a lot of support there.”
Bernie Collins explains how Sergio Perez used to deal with poor performances at Racing Point
Collins and Perez worked together during their time at Racing Point and both left the team around the same time in 2020.
Talking about how the 35-year-old would act if he put in a disappointing performance at his previous team, Collins said: “So he’s always the first person to come into the office and say, oh, that was a c— qualifying because we went out in Q1 or whatever, how are we going to win the race?
“He’s the first person to turn that around even before I’ve done that. So, I find that Red Bull as a team potentially need to really look at that second seat.
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“How do they get whoever is in that second seat working, what changes need to be made to the car, the people around like, nobody has come close to Verstappen.”
Perez is aiming to return to Formula 1 with Cadillac in 2026 if the opportunity arises.
He will feel he still has a point to prove after such a tumultuous final year with the Anglo-Austrian team and Red Bull apologised to Perez for not listening to his concerns sooner.
How Perez’s replacement Liam Lawson fares alongside Verstappen may provide more context about whether his struggles were unique to him, or a wider problem faced by the Dutchman’s teammates.
