Five races in 2024 that convinced Red Bull to sack Sergio Perez

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When Sergio Perez was signed to Red Bull off the back of a strong 2020 season with Racing Point, it was seen as a second chance for the Mexican following his ill-fated move to McLaren in 2013.

Anyone going against Max Verstappen was always going to find it hard, but the experience of Perez coupled with his determination on track meant it was a good matchup at first.

The 2021 season was all about supporting Verstappen in his title fight with Lewis Hamilton, but then came 2022 when Red Bull genuinely looked like they would be unstoppable.

Even though Charles Leclerc had a strong start to the year, Ferrari’s poor reliability and race executions should have made it easy for Perez to beat him. Instead, he finished third in the standings but still amassed 305 points.

A shakey 2023 season at the wheel of the quickest car put then Perez under pressure to grab Red Bull’s first one-two in the Drivers’ Championship, which effectively saved his seat for 2024.

Another strong start to the 2024 season then led to Red Bull confirming Perez for the 2025 season in June off the back of a fifth place in Miami, eighth at Imola and a Q1 elimination in Monaco that led to a spectacular and expensive opening lap crash with Kevin Magnussen.

But as the season went on, it looked like Red Bull had made a mistake. Perez made the same mistakes as the previous season and his form dipped even more.

By the summer break, rumours were swirling that Daniel Ricciardo was being lined up to replace Perez after the summer break. Ultimately, the axe only fell following the conclusion of the campaign as Red Bull terminated Perez’s contract for 2025.

Although Red Bull chose to hang on to Perez’s services until the end of the year, likely out of continuity purposes to avoid it distracting their world championship defence, it was clear there were some races that effectively already confirmed the direction Red Bull would take.

Yet it would take until 10 days after the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix for Red Bull to confirm the sacking of Perez, with the Mexican no longer returning to the Formula 1 grid in 2025 with his contract terminated.

Sergio Perez had a shocker at the 2024 Canadian Grand Prix

It was an interesting way for Perez to commemorate a contract extension with F1’s most successful team in recent years with a double retirement. After his sizable shunt on the opening lap of the race in Monaco, Perez followed it up with a calamitous race in Canada.

The second Q1 knockout in a row for the Mexican meant he started from the back of the pack. But his efforts to recover only lasted 51 laps when Perez spun and crashed into the wall at Turn 6.

That destroyed his rear wing, with the team commanding him to limp back to the pits to avoid a Safety Car potentially ruining Verstappen’s lead.

Perez would go on to receive a three-place grid penalty for the Spanish Grand Prix owing to driving a car in an unsafe condition, while also costing Red Bull £20,000, for the incident.

Sergio Perez enhanced his own sack threat at the 2024 British Grand Prix

Already under pressure to improve his results having only scored 15 points in the previous five races, Perez’s attempts to quieten the noise around his future did not go well when he spun out of Q1 for the British Grand Prix.

It was at this stage that rumours truly started to swirl that Perez was instructed by Red Bull that they might reconsider his future for 2025 if there was a continuation of his bad form.

It could therefore be said that this was probably the turning point, especially after Christian Horner, Helmut Marko and technical director Pierre Wache were seen in discussion after Perez’s early Q1 exit.

Sergio Perez spurned a chance to turn his season around at the 2024 Azerbaijan Grand Prix

A run of somewhat underwhelming races for Perez across the end of the European season was marred by a disastrous race in Baku.

Perez had spent much of the first 40 laps close to leaders Charles Leclerc and Oscar Piastri, intending to be a looming threat if either made a mistake. But when Carlos Sainz also joined in, an overly defensive move by Perez on the penultimate lap ended in tears for the pair.

Baku has always been a strong race for Perez and Red Bull were keen to use it as a benchmark, but the crash effectively cost them the Constructors’ Championship as it meant McLaren moved ahead.

Sergio Perez endured a torrid homecoming at the 2024 Mexican Grand Prix

Perez’s self-proclaimed ‘terrible’ season took antoher turn for the worst when he dropped out of Q1 for a sixth time this season, nearly a second off Verstappen, at his home round at the Mexico City Grand Prix.

Things did not get much better in the race, either, when Perez made contact with Liam Lawson, causing sidepod damage and effectively confining him to the rear of the pack.

A final effort to secure the fastest lap dropped Perez to last place and a lap down, and a frankly embarrassing last showing in front of his home crowd with Red Bull.

2024 Qatar Grand Prix

The final two races of Perez’s tumultuous Red Bull career were meant to be an opportunity to do something spectacular but, instead, they ended disappointingly.

Perez was mugged by Franco Colapinto in the pits during the Sprint at the Qatar Grand Prix, leading to a scathing from Horner in the media.

Overheating his clutch behind the safety car 38 laps into the Qatar GP then forced Perez to retire, whilst also mathematically putting Red Bull out of contention for the Constructors’ Championship.

It was around this time that Horner stated that Perez must ‘come to his own conclusions’ when asked if there was any future for him at the team. It was effectively another step on the road toward his end, given Red Bull chose Perez’s successor before the Abu Dhabi GP a week later.