‘No more contract for you’… The one moment that nearly cost Sergio Perez new Red Bull deal

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Sergio Perez knew coming into 2024 that it would be extremely difficult to beat Max Verstappen to the title. While he would still have dreamed of a championship, his main goal would have been earning a new contract.

Perez’s deal was due to expire at the end of the season and he came into the campaign under pressure after finishing a record 290 points behind Verstappen in last year’s standings. He won two races and took nine podiums, but his campaign rather unravelled after the summer break.

In the end, a string of solid performances at the beginning of 2024 was enough to convince Red Bull. Perez finished runner-up in three of the first four races, and with just over a third of the season gone, they offered him an extension.

While Christian Horner has framed it as a two-year contract, reports suggest it’s better described as a 1+1. That means Perez will need to meet certain performance benchmarks in 2025 to trigger the second year.

The 34-year-old’s main rival for the seat was former Toro Rosso driver Carlos Sainz, on the market after Ferrari signed Lewis Hamilton. But Red Bull were wary of further tension between the Spaniard and Verstappen, and sought to maintain the harmonious dynamic with Perez.

However, his recent form has led some to question that call. He’s scored just eight points in the last four races, and hasn’t started in the top 10 since the Miami Grand Prix at the start of May.

Sergio Perez nearly ruined Red Bull career in Miami

According to journalist Alex Kalinauckas, speaking on the Flat Chat with Codders podcast, Perez very nearly scuppered his Red Bull chances with one error. At the start of the Miami GP, he locked up at the first corner and almost took Verstappen out of the race.

Perez was just about able to avoid his teammate, though his lock-up did see him fall to fifth behind the two Ferraris and the McLaren of Oscar Piastri. Kalinauckas has heard that Red Bull would have ripped up their proposed new contract if he’d eliminated Verstappen that day.

The team, he says, aren’t ‘blind’ to his struggles in recent seasons. And a disastrous mistake such as this would have been enough to end his career at Milton Keynes.

“Perez has been so bad these last few years,” he said. “Red Bull isn’t blind to that. The suggestion is that, if Perez had actually managed to take Max Verstappen out at the start of the Miami Grand Prix, ‘no more contract for you Sergio’.”

Ralf Schumacher says winless driver would be better teammate for Max Verstappen

For sporting reasons alone, some would argue that Perez hasn’t done enough to merit a new deal. Instead, Red Bull’s priority may have been to keep Verstappen, an all-time great driver with an uncertain future, as happy as possible.

Ralf Schumacher has previously suggested that Perez’s commercial ties also help the team afford the Dutchman’s salary. But if this is genuinely the basis for their decision, they could come to regret it eventually.

Perez’s absence from the sharp end is making Verstappen’s life harder, and also offering rivals hope that they can challenge for the constructors’ championship. Lando Norris has previously suggested that McLaren have a key advantage with two drivers who deliver on a more consistent basis.

Likewise, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff says Perez ‘isn’t doing well’ at the moment. Red Bull would point out that Pierre Gasly and Alex Albon have previously struggled against the mighty Verstappen too.

Schumacher believes that the winless Nico Hulkenberg would be ‘in a completely different league’ to Perez. But it’s hard to envision most realistic targets getting anywhere close to the world champion.