Helmut Marko issues seven-word response to rumours Sergio Perez will lose Red Bull seat

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Sergio Perez could lose his drive at Red Bull despite signing a new contract just last month. And Daniel Ricciardo is the favourite to replace him.

Auto Motor und Sport dropped the bombshell news on Friday that Perez’s future is in doubt. Red Bull appeared to commit to the Mexican ahead of the Canadian GP when they handed him a two-year extension.

It was subsequently made clear that Perez would have to meet certain performance clauses to trigger the second season. But now it seems Red Bull may have the option to get out of the contract even earlier.

The reason Christian Horner and co. offered him a new deal in the first place was that he started the season in solid fashion. He scored a podium in four of the first five races, and finished fifth or better in each of the first six.

But McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes have since closed the gap to Red Bull through upgrades. Where previously Perez could finish second despite a significant deficit to Max Verstappen, he’s now fallen towards the lower reaches of the top 10.

The 34-year-old has scored a meagre 15 points across the last five events, opening the door for a sensational return for Ricciardo. The Australian has been fighting for his own seat at RB, and yet he could secure a promotion.

Helmut Marko hints Red Bull could make Sergio Perez decision next month

Ricciardo trails Yuki Tsunoda by eight points in the championship (19 vs 11) and is losing the qualifying battle 8-3. However, he’s shown some signs of improvement recently, scoring points in Austria and Canada and outracing Tsunoda at the last three events.

What’s more, Red Bull have concerns about the Japanese driver. In their eyes, he hasn’t yet shown the consistency or the temperament required to merit serious consideration.

Ricciardo, by contrast, is a known quantity. He won seven races during his first stint at Red Bull and outwardly maintained a strong relationship with Verstappen across their three years as teammates.

The 35-year-old is now coming back into contention for a 2025 seat with the Milton Keynes outfit. But there’s also a possibility that Red Bull could pull the trigger midseason if the two drivers continue on their current trajectories.

Helmut Marko refused to rule out a change in a conversation with AMuS. He simply said ‘we’ll know more by the summer break’.

The Christian Horner comments that may point to Perez ‘escape clause’

It would be remarkable if Red Bull announced Perez as a driver for 2025 and then ousted him before the 2024 season had come to an end. But the team clearly didn’t anticipate his season ‘spiralling out of control’, in the words of BBC F1 pundit Marc Priestley.

After the Austrian GP, Perez finds himself 119 points behind Verstappen. Only once since the introduction of the current points system in 2010 has there been a larger gap between teammates at this stage of a season (Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso at Ferrari in 2012).

Horner publicly admitted in Spielberg that Perez was ‘underdelivering’. He also stated that the former McLaren driver was under ‘pressure’, though he backed him to respond.

These comments raised the eyebrows of journalist Ian Parkes. He suggested that they pointed to an ‘escape clause’ in the recently-signed contract, and he may have been correct.