Only five points from the last three races, not making it into Q3 for the eighth time in the 2023 season and only a tenth place at the Formula 1 Grand Prix of Qatar due to various track limit penalties: it’s running for Red Bull driver Sergio Perez currently not at all. Meanwhile, teammate Max Verstappen, who secured the world title in the Saturday sprint six races before the end of the season, has almost twice as many points as Perez in the same car.
Although the Mexican still has a contract until the end of 2024 and the Red Bull management has repeatedly emphasized this, helplessness is slowly seeping out after the renewed bankruptcy in Qatar: “I think we really have to sit down with Checo, because we know “What he’s capable of and he’s not in shape at the moment,” says team boss Christian Horner.
“But we desperately need him in form to hold on to second place in the Drivers’ Championship. So it was frustrating that he only came out of the weekend with one point and I think he could have, even if he started from last on the grid If he had gone to the race, he would have had the opportunity to get a lot of points. But we will support him as best we can because the triple header is coming up. A lot of points are also at stake in the sprint races.”
Helmut Marko: Perez can be happy that we lack alternatives
When you look at the hard facts, Perez is not only completely left behind in terms of points in the championship, but his season averages in qualifying and race pace have also reached a new low in Qatar.
Over the entire 2023 season, Verstappen is now an average of 0.721 seconds faster per lap in qualifying, and in the race it is “only” 0.487 seconds. Only the team duel at Aston Martin is even clearer, where Lance Stroll is an average of 0.876 seconds behind Fernando Alonso in qualifying and 0.570 seconds per lap in the race.
“I’m repeating myself,” Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko told F1 Insider, “but Perez has a contract that we want to respect. We’re doing everything we can to get him back on track. We don’t have any alternatives. Otherwise he might have a problem. At the moment I only see one person who could come close to keeping up with Max: Fernando Alonso.”
Horner: We want P1 and P2 in the drivers’ championship
Horner suspects that Perez is in a negative spiral and is putting too much pressure on himself: “I think when you get into a spiral like that, the two things become intertwined,” said the Red Bull team boss. “And I think sometimes you just have to take your foot off the gas, put it on the floor, stop the carousel and get back to what’s important.”
“And that’s exactly what we’re going to do. We all know what Checo is capable of and we want to help him get back to a position where he was second to Max at Monza recently. I think with a car “As we have it, he’s probably putting pressure on himself.”
“And the most important thing for us is to win both championships. We did that. And the next best thing would be if both drivers came first and second. You can see that at Mercedes, McLaren and Ferrari there is a driver duo that “It’s pretty close. And I think we had that at the beginning of the year.”
“But over the course of the season the relationship has shifted and we just need to get Checo back into the best shape he is capable of. Sport at the highest level is always a mental game, just as much as a physical game. And I believe Checo mentioned that he is working with a coach in this area. And I think that’s what we need to achieve with him, to give him his confidence.”
“But he will have a lot of support in the next three races. In Latin America and in the USA as well as at his home race in Mexico City. That will hopefully help him find the form and confidence that he has lost a bit at the moment seems to have,” hopes Horner.
What if Perez doesn’t see a country in 2024 either?
Red Bull can currently afford to have a driver who is out of form, as the RB19 has been so dominant throughout the season that they were able to bag both championships early on. But what if the RB20 is no longer so dominant next year and the drivers make the difference in winning a constructors’ championship?
When asked whether he is worried about next year, Horner tries to remain calm: “The disappointment right now is more that we know what Checo is capable of. And of course he made an important contribution to the constructors’ championship last year and this year. “
“We desperately want him to get back to this form and as a team we need him too. We can’t afford to leave a big gap because if the field continues to tighten as expected next year, we need both drivers to be in top form.”
“And you could see the other teams working as a pair, and sometimes it gets a bit confrontational, like us [in Katar] have seen. At Mercedes it is very close between the two. At Ferrari it’s very close between the two.”
“Oscar, who is doing a great job as a rookie, is very close friends with Lando and we really need Checo to come into this window because we need him, not so much this year but certainly next year, um working on all cylinders.”
What would be Red Bull’s best alternative?
Red Bull will still have to look for alternatives if Perez gets off to a weak start in 2024, but many top drivers are under long-term contracts. The name Lando Norris is often mentioned in connection with Red Bull, but the Briton has committed himself to McLaren until the end of 2025 without any exit clauses for either side.
His McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri recently extended his contract until 2026 and the two Mercedes drivers also signed a new long-term contract this summer. What remains are the two Ferrari drivers, whose contracts both expire at the end of 2024, as well as possible return campaigns, be it Daniel Ricciardo or Alexander Albon from Williams.
“Lando is of course under contract and Oscar too. So all of these drivers are under contract and we also have AlphaTauri,” notes Horner. “But we have a contract with Sergio. We are not seeing the best of Sergio and we need to find out what is causing his dip in form and we will support him as best we can to achieve that.”
“We’re going to support Checo as much as we can to help him find his form. We really want him to achieve what he’s capable of. Fast cars are nasty and we just have to find out what he’s really struggling with.”