Photo by Kym Illman/Getty Images
The Red Bull-Sergio Pérez marriage seems headed for a divorce
Roughly midway through Sunday’s Formula 1 Qatar Grand Prix, Red Bull driver Sergio Pérez was noted by race officials that he was being given a five-second penalty for exceeding track limits. Pérez was not the only driver noted for such an infraction, as race stewards noted a whopping 51 such incidents during the Grand Prix Sunday, the second-most in a race all season.
However, that violation drew a somewhat surprising remark from Jolyon Palmer, a former driver now in the commentary booth for F1TV. “They’re drifting apart aren’t they? Pérez and Red Bull. You just feel it. The way that their season has unfolded, it feels such a long time ago that Sergio Pérez took two grand prix wins … the wheels are so coming off.”
Or perhaps that remake should not be surprising at all.
Because it does feel like the wheels are coming off, and that the parties are drifting apart and heading to a separation that is not a matter of if, but when. Rumblings about his position with the team grew to a full roar when the decision was made to sack a struggling Nyck de Vries and replace him with Daniel Ricciardo. Could the path be in place for the former Red Bull driver to make a stunning return to the team, forcing Pérez out of his spot?
On one hand, concerns about Pérez almost feel overblown. With just five races left he remains in second place in the Drivers’ Championship, 30 points ahead of his closest competitor, Lewis Hamilton. He was part of a Red Bull team that has already secured their second-straight Constructors’ Championship. He is one of just three drivers to win a grand prix this season, along with Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz Jr. and of course teammate Max Verstappen. There are probably 18 other drivers on the grid who would love to have the kind of season he has enjoyed.
On the other hand, his season when taken on the whole feels underwhelming. The RB19 has been the clear class of the field from start to finish, and while being Verstappen’s teammate is no easy task, there are signs that Pérez has underperformed.
There was the five-race stretch earlier in the season where he failed to reach Q3 in each event. At one of those races, the British Grand Prix, pole-sitter Verstappen noted that given the strength of the RB19, advancing to Q3 should be the minimum result. “I don’t know why things went wrong today, but of course, with our car, you have to get into Q3,” said Verstappen at Silverstone.
There is also the fact that the gap between Verstappen and Pérez in the points — 209 points to be exact — is the biggest gap among teammates in the entire field. Bigger than even the gap at Aston Martin between Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll.
Then there are moments like the one that prompted Palmer’s comments in the Qatar Grand Prix, where Pérez sees lap times deleted and penalties enforced for exceeding track limits. The Red Bull driver was certainly not alone in that regard Sunday, as race officials handed out 51 such infractions. but it speaks to his current form. The most glaring example came ahead of the Austrian Grand Prix, when Pérez failed to advance out of Q2 when every lap time was deleted for that reason. Instead of moving into Q3 just a hair behind his teammate in second place, he was out.
Compounding matters is that Red Bull’s sister team, AlphaTauri, faced a tough decision recently when setting their lineup for 2024. Three drivers cannot fit into two spots, so the team is forging ahead with Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda for 2024, leaving Liam Lawson — who performed admirably in relief of an injured Ricciardo — on the sideline as a reserve.
Three drivers can fit into three seats … provided Pérez is not part of the picture.
Of course, he is under contract through 2024, and Red Bull maintains that Pérez will be part of the team next season. But even those positions have started to soften. Red Bull senior advisor Dr. Helmut Marko has been the most critical of Pérez this season — more on him in a moment — but even Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner has hardened his stance in recent weeks.
Speaking after the Qatar Grand Prix, where Pérez managed just a tenth-place finish after being handed three different penalties during the race, Horner noted “I think we really need to sit down with Checo because we know what he’s capable of and he’s really not hitting that form at the moment. We desperately need him to find his form to keep that second place in the championship.”
Still, Horner brushed aside the idea of replacing Pérez anytime soon.
“As I say, we’re going to give all the support for Checo to find his form,” he added. “You guys [the media] will beat him up enough I’m sure. We really want to see him achieve what we know is capable of.”
As for Marko, who has been louder in his criticism of Pérez this season, his most recent comments underline the urgency the driver faces as the season draws to a close. Speaking with Austrian outlet OE24, Marko made the case that second place in the Drivers’ Championship is a critical test for Pérez. “The fear [of losing second place in the world championship] is actually very concrete. Without the crash, Hamilton would have made up another 10, 15 points,” Marko told OE24.
Marko also addressed the idea that Pérez himself may force a split, a notion raised on ServusTV by former F1 driver Gerhard Berger. After saying “[y]ou don’t want to hear an answer from me on that just before the Mexican Grand Prix,” Marko added this: “Seen this way, Berger’s statement is the right one: Perez needs a climate and team change. Now let’s see how the next two races go. But the team and he are aware that they are in a crisis.”
From Pérez’s standpoint, the problem goes beyond his recent form. Even if he were to entertain the notion of leaving Red Bull, where could he go? There is only one seat technically open, the one currently occupied by Logan Sargeant at Williams, but that team has given every indication they want the American driver back for the 2024 provided he satisfies certain benchmarks down the stretch.
There is always the wild possibility of Lance Stroll’s seat opening up at Aston Martin, but it is widely believed that the seat is his as long as he wants it, given his father’s ownership stake in the organization.
Of course, Pérez could put all these concerns to rest with a strong performance down the stretch. Winning, after all, is the ultimate cure for what ails a team and a relationship.
But if not, the “drifting apart” noted by Palmer during the Qatar Grand Prix may reach a breaking point.
