Marc Priestley issues verdict on Sergio Perez’s future at Red Bull after Spa

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Sergio Perez faces uncertainty over his Red Bull future heading into the Formula 1 summer break following an underwhelming Belgian Grand Prix.

The Mexican started the race in second but dropped to eighth, having lost out immediately to Lewis Hamilton before being overtaken by Oscar Piastri.

Perez was eventually undercut in the pit stops by teammate Max Verstappen and Mercedes’ George Russell, who went on to win the race on the track before being disqualified for having an underweight car.

Red Bull fans were not happy with the decision to pit Perez out of sequence with the rest of the front-running drivers during his second pit stop, which was done by the team after 10 laps on the medium tyre.

Both Perez and Verstappen were suffering from high tyre degradation on the mediums in dirty air, but Marc Priestley believes the Mexican had an opportunity to improve the outcome of his race when speaking on the BBC Chequered Flag podcast.

Marc Priestley issues Sergio Perez verdict amid Red Bull uncertainty

The Belgian GP was supposed to be the perfect opportunity for Perez to silence his critics and get his season back on track at Red Bull.

Although Perez produced a lap time that put him on the front row with Verstappen’s penalty on Saturday, he was still over half a second off his teammate and was nearly knocked out in the early stages of the session.

Perez went on to blame lack of straight-line speed, traffic, strategy and car balance for his poor performance. Prestley believes Perez did not make use of his track position at the start of the race, given polesitter Charles Leclerc’s lack of straight-line speed.

“Verstappen was hampered by being in the middle of the pack and didn’t have clean air. Perez had the perfect opportunity to run in clean air if he got a good start and challenged Leclerc off the line. He could have won the Grand Prix and that’s what he needed to do; he needed to become F1’s eighth winner. But he finished eighth on the road, seventh with Russell’s penalty,” said Priestley.

“That’s not good enough for a second Red Bull driver and McLaren are coming for them in this Constructors’ Championship and Perez is not helping that he’s hindering it. There are going to be major discussions over the summer break at Red Bull. I think we’ve seen the last of Sergio Perez in a Red Bull car.”

Was the Belgian GP the last race for Sergio Perez at Red Bull?

Perez is under intense scrutiny to keep his Red Bull seat after a series of poor qualifying and race performances.

Even though Perez’s last race win came in April 2023 at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, Red Bull still offered him a two-year extension on his contract providing he turned around his performances.

READ MORE: Red Bull driver Sergio Perez’s life outside F1 from net worth to nickname

Since the Miami GP he has failed to secure a top-six finish and has been regularly exiting qualifying early, leaving him starting towards the back of the grid.

Perez has a meeting with Red Bull this week to discuss his future as the summer break begins, while team advisor Helmut Marko offered little praise in the aftermath of the race at Spa.

Verstappen needs a strong rear-gunner to help support him in the battle to win the Constructors’ Championship, as McLaren pieces together stronger performances and emerges as a credible threat in the second half of the season.