Helmut Marko sends Red Bull’s Sergio Perez ‘critical’ warning as Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton put on alert

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Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko has warned Sergio Perez that he ‘has to deliver’ with his lead over Mercedes ace Lewis Hamilton in the F1 drivers’ championship ‘melting’.

Only 30 points now separate Perez and Hamilton for second after the latter ate three points into Perez’s advantage across the Qatar Grand Prix weekend. Hamilton scored four as Perez crashed out of the Sprint on Saturday. But the Mexican then replied by one point on Sunday.

Perez started in eighth place for the Sprint but could not take any points after being involved in an incident. The 33-year-old was collected while trying to overtake Esteban Ocon and also Nico Hulkenberg at Turn 2. His weekend then failed to improve during the actual Grand Prix.

Perez missed an open goal with Hamilton retiring from the Qatar GP

Another poor qualifying performance on Friday saw Perez take P13. But Red Bull started the Mexican from the pit lane after changing his power unit following his Sprint crash. Yet it was not the bane of his race as Perez earned three five-second penalties for track limit offences.

The penalties dropped Perez down to P10 to take one point back after Hamilton retired after crashing with George Russell. Mercedes watched in horror as their drivers collided at Turn 1 on the opening lap. Hamilton took full responsibility for turning faintly across his teammate.

Russell recovered from the first corner crash to finish in P4 and with a 46-second advantage to Perez. The Mexican never seemed as likely to charge through the field to follow retiring in the Japanese GP. He also had a crash-strewn Singapore GP after sealing P2 at the Italian GP.

Marko warns Perez that P2 in the drivers’ standings is now at risk

Marko has now warned Perez that he must end the ‘negative spiral’ the Mexican is enduring straight away. Otherwise, the Red Bull advisor fears Hamilton or another rival may catch the Guadalajara native for P2 in the standings. He feels Perez’s hopes of keeping it are ‘melting’.

“In between, there were fast laps again,” Marko has said on ORF, via quotes by Motorsport-Total, about Perez’s Qatar GP. “But it doesn’t help if you get ten-second penalties.

“But, now, it becomes critical when two such strong drivers are in the McLaren. I hope we can save second place. It looked quite comfortable for a while but now the lead is melting. Checo has to deliver now!”