Red Bull chief says Sergio Perez did something ‘extraordinary’ ahead of 2024 F1 season

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Jonathan Wheatley is in awe of an ‘extraordinary’ feat from Red Bull driver Sergio Perez.

Perez is beginning his third season with the reigning world champions after joining in 2022.

And sporting director Wheatley is particularly impressed by one thing that his driver has been able to do.

The Mexican endured a difficult year in 2023 despite finishing second in the standings behind teammate Max Verstappen.

Verstappen won 19 out of 22 races in the most dominant car the sport has ever seen, with Perez only taking two victories.

The last of those came at the fourth Grand Prix of the season in Azerbaijan, and the gap to Verstappen ended up at a record 290 points.

He failed to finish on the podium at over half (13) of the rounds, and missed out on Q3 nine times.

Journalist Diego Mejia says the lowest point of all came at the Japanese Grand Prix, when he collided with Haas driver Kevin Magnussen and earned a penalty.

Jonathan Wheatley warns not to ‘underestimate’ Sergio Perez

Speaking to The Athletic, Wheatley said most of the grid would need the whole winter break to recover from such a bruising season.

Perez, on the other hand, is able to put setbacks behind him quickly, which meant that last year was a distant memory by the time he put his visor down for 2024.

He insists that the 34-year-old shouldn’t be written off despite Verstappen’s dominance in their intra-team battle.

He said: “Most drivers, it would take the whole winter to get the mindset back, but he did an extraordinary job.

“He’s somebody you do not underestimate.”

Will Red Bull keep Perez?

Perez is in the final year of his contract, which means he has a fight on his hands to retain his drive for 2025.

It’s been a solid, if unspectacular, start to the new season for the former McLaren driver, who has completed a couple of one-two finishes behind Verstappen.

He’ll be looking to improve in qualifying, having failed to make the front row at either of the first two events.

One positive sign for Perez is that neither of the drivers at sister team RB appear to a threat right now.

Daniel Ricciardo, who seemed a ‘dead-cert’ to replace Perez before the season began, has already drawn the critical eye of Helmut Marko.

Marko has told the Australian that he needs to improve relative to Yuki Tsunoda ‘soon’.

As for Tsunoda himself, Karun Chandhok reckons he’s not in contention for a seat with the top team.