Alex Brundle tells Sergio Perez what he must now do after British GP qualifying disaster

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Sergio Perez suffered another early exit from F1 qualifying at the British Grand Prix, landing more scrutiny on the safety of his seat at Red Bull.

The Mexican made the switch to dry tyres on the slippery circuit and was attempting to warm them up on his out-lap, before he hit a wet patch of track at the high-speed right-hander of Copse.

After initially catching the slide in his RB20, the wet run off caused him to spin into the gravel and become stuck. As drivers cannot get any outside assistance and continue, Perez was forced to reitre from the session on the spot.

It was another blow to his chances of keeping his Red Bull seat, amid rumours the team could make a shock decision to replace Perez in favour of Daniel Ricciardo or Liam Lawson.

Speaking on F1 TV, racing driver and F1 pundit Alex Brundle outlined one of the things Perez must do to keep his chances of retaining his seat alive, after a spate of poor race and qualifying results.

The ‘reality’ facing Sergio Perez

Since his last top-five finish at the Miami Grand Prix, Perez has failed to make Q3 more times than Nico Hulkenberg or Yuki Tsunoda (four times versus three).

Alex Albon has the same amount of Q3 appearances, while Logan Sargeant has out-qualified Perez more times than the Mexican has versus Verstappen in vastly inferior machinery.

Brundle pointed towards Red Bull’s roster of drivers waiting to be promoted in their Junior Driver programme as a reason why Perez should be concerned, despite having a contract for 2025 and 2026.

“You’ve got to remember, Red Bull have one of the most developed young driver programmes in F1. Drivers like Isack Hadjar, Liam Lawson, outside of these weekends but always waiting in the wings,” said Brundle.

“There is a potentially a race-winning car in F1 and that’s the reality that Perez has got to try and convert on track.”

Pressure grows on Sergio Perez after more unforced errors

The 2023 season offered some insight into what Perez must do if he wants to beat Max Verstappen: produce solid qualifying performances.

He missed Q3 a stunning five times in a row between the Spanish and British Grands Prix, eventually making the top nine at Hungary but not without a crash during practice.

It is an unacceptable calamity in one of the most dominant cars on the field, piling yet more pressure on whether he would retain his seat for 2024. Visits to the team’s simulator helped get his season back on track, but it appears the same problems are occurring for the Mexican.

As it stands, Perez has secured his short-term future at Red Bull but there will no doubt be performance clauses attached to that. He will need to pick up his results, otherwise the threat of Lawson or Ricciardo being parachuted into his seat will become greater.