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MOGYORÓD, Hungary — “The pressure on Sergio Pérez only grew on Saturday after he crashed out of qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix, further fueling doubts over his Red Bull future.
Two weeks on from spinning out of qualifying at Silverstone and beaching his car in the gravel, eliminating him in Q1, Pérez lost control of his car at Turn 8 at the Hungaroring and spun into the barrier, again in Q1. The impact required Pérez to visit the medical center for a precautionary check before being cleared. He is due to start tomorrow’s race from 16th on the grid.
But the mistake, clipping the slippery curb as the rain grew heavier towards the end of qualifying, served to increase the scrutiny over Pérez’s future as his rotten recent form continued.
“It’s a huge shame,” Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said of the crash.
Pérez’s deepening plight
Red Bull announced at the start of June that Pérez had signed a new contract that could extend to the end of 2026, only for his recent form to leave the team considering a switch as early as the current season thanks to performance-related clauses within his agreement.
Pérez has scored only 15 points in the six races since the Miami Grand Prix at the start of May, allowing Red Bull’s rivals to close the gap at the top of the constructors’ championship despite Max Verstappen’s results. Horner said it was “unsustainable to not be scoring points” after Pérez finished 17th at Silverstone.
Perez is ok, but his Red Bull certainly isn’t…
He’ll start tomorrow’s race from P15 at best 😖#F1 #HungarianGP pic.twitter.com/tPGEEw3Lqg
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 20, 2024
Speaking on Sky Sports this Friday, Horner said Pérez had “been in a bit of a headspin the last few races” and that they had discussed his form in the gap since the last race.
“I sat down with him in the kitchen at my house and said, ‘Come on, what’s going on? Is there something else?’” Horner said. “And he said, ‘No, I think I’m just overthinking things a bit too much.’”
Between the two races, Pérez returned to the Red Bull factory to work with the team in the simulator, aiming to get the car setup into a window he was more comfortable with. It seemed to yield results in second practice, when Pérez finished fourth, only two-tenths off Verstappen. But 24 hours later, his weekend unraveled in qualifying.
“I think these conditions can catch out anyone out there, but unfortunately, it has been me two (races) in a row,” Pérez said. “I’m determined to turn things around.”
He admitted it was “quite hard to face all the media after all these difficult moments” and noted how mentally challenging this period has been for him.
“The easiest way would be just to give up after the career I’ve had, to say it’s been enough,” Pérez said. “But it’s not what I want to teach my kids, not what I want to show, this sort of character.”
Pérez’s message was clear. “I just want to get back, and I will get back,” he said. “I will not give up.”
The race for the Red Bull seat
Red Bull has been clear in the need for Pérez to lift his performance and rediscover the early-season form that accelerated contract talks, the hope being that added security over his future would lead to an on-track boost.
Instead, his form has continued to dip.
On Thursday, Pérez was adamant that he’d remain at Red Bull both this year and next year. Even after qualifying, he maintained that he was not concerned about his future. “Like I said before, nothing changes, I’m not worried,” Pérez said, then repeating that he was “fully determined to turn my season around and to focus on my performance.”
Red Bull team boss Christian Horner called the Hungary crash a “huge shame” that’s done “quite a lot of damage” to the car. (Ferenc ISZA / AFP)
The question facing Red Bull is, should it choose to replace Pérez this season, which of its drivers would get the nod.
Traditionally, Red Bull has turned to its sister team, now known as RB, for replacement drivers. Both Verstappen in 2016 and Alex Albon in 2019 were promoted to Red Bull mid-season, with Daniil Kvyat and Pierre Gasly going in the opposite direction.
Yet the question marks hanging over RB’s existing driver pairing of Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda mean it is Liam Lawson, Red Bull’s reserve driver, who looks most likely to get the seat.
Last year, Lawson impressed through his five-race stint for RB, then known as AlphaTauri, when Ricciardo was ruled out due to injury, but he was ultimately overlooked for a full-time race seat in 2024.
Lawson took part in a filming day test at Silverstone last week in the Red Bull RB20, which is limited to 200 km (124 miles) but enough to give Red Bull a chance to evaluate Lawson’s pace. His lap times are understood to have met the benchmarks set by the team, and Helmut Marko, Red Bull’s adviser, is known to be a fan of the New Zealander.
Ricciardo’s return last year with AlphaTauri was always intended to give Red Bull an option if it were to consider replacing Pérez. Yet his form has also been patchy at best, leading to doubts about his future on the F1 grid at all, let alone a potential return to Red Bull.
Ricciardo said after qualifying ninth in Hungary that he came into the weekend “telling myself that these two races could be two of the most important of not only my season but potentially my career.”
Although Red Bull took up the option on Tsunoda back in June to keep him at RB for 2025 based on his good results in the early part of the year, it has shown little sign of considering him for the senior team. The Honda-affiliated driver’s sizable Q3 crash on Saturday will have done little to help the cause.
But with McLaren locking out the front row in Hungary, and Verstappen again left to fight solo at the front, Red Bull’s constructors’ championship advantage looks set to shrink again on Sunday.
It means nearing the summer break, Pérez’s latest error will have served to hasten considerations of a switch.
(Lead photo of Sergio Pérez: SIPA USA)
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Courtesy : https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5648458/2024/07/20/sergio-perez-red-bull-f1-hungarian-gp/