Sergio Perez is under serious pressure to improve his performance at the Belgian Grand Prix or he risks getting sacked by Red Bull over the summer break.
The Mexican suffered a difficult weekend in Hungary after crashing during qualifying, which put him towards the back of the grid for the race.
Although he recovered to seventh place in the race, questions remain on whether Red Bull continue with him for the rest of the season or replace him after the summer break.
Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko has taken a significant dig at Perez in his column for Speedweek after Hungary, accusing the Mexican of making ‘stupid mistakes’ and ultimately lacking the consistency needed to win the Constructors’ Championship.
Helmut Marko says Sergio Perez of ‘lacks consistency’
Marko has previously been critical of the Mexican, having said Perez is ‘notoriously’ poor at qualifying which has been his main weakness in the last few races.
This time he has laid into the Mexican for failing to pull his weight in the championship battle, having only scored 39 points in the last six races.
“Let’s talk about Sergio Pérez for a moment: A GP weekend that was typical of Pérez, I would say, unpredictable – very good on Friday, only just behind Verstappen and with the best endurance runs of all the drivers, then unfortunately a stupid mistake in qualifying, which resulted in 16th place on the grid, followed by a very strong race up to 7th place. He continues to have this up and down, nobody knows when he will shine or when he will make a mistake, he simply lacks consistently good performance.
“Max’s lead in the drivers’ championship is still 76 points. In the constructors’ championship, McLaren has moved up to 51 points. Verstappen’s lead basically means three race wins, which is enough, if not reassuring. We have to deliver consistent performance and be able to win on our own again.
“Defending the drivers’ title will certainly be less difficult than defending the constructors’ cup. McLaren is still scoring points with both drivers up front, and our main problem is that we have scored far too few points with Checo Pérez in the last few races.”
Sergio Perez could get replaced after the summer break
The chances of Perez being replaced after the summer break are going up by the race weekend, considering he is failing to deliver on his duties of being a reliable backup to Max Verstappen.
The ultimate test is set to come at Spa Francorchamps where it is expected Verstappen will take an engine penalty and start from the back of the grid, meaning Perez will be Red Bull’s main chance of starting inside the top ten.
So far the stats are against him, with five Q1 exits in the last seven races which mimics a trend that happened last year for the Mexican.
Red Bull cannot afford to have Perez at the back along with Verstappen, given McLaren’s current advantage heading into the mid-season break. If he does have a bad weekend, Perez might likely be replaced by Daniel Ricciardo.
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