Red Bull now ‘considering’ drastic action with Sergio Perez’s car amid spiralling form

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Red Bull have decided to stick with Sergio Perez beyond the summer break. Team bosses met following the Belgian Grand Prix and agreed to give him a final chance.

It’s far from guaranteed that he sees out the season. One journalist believes Red Bull could reassess the situation after Singapore if he hasn’t improved.

Meanwhile, Will Buxton has predicted that Perez could lose his seat for the last three races. That may seem too late to save the team’s constructors’ championship hopes, but it would at least prevent a major loss of revenue at the Mexico City Grand Prix in October.

Liberty Media reportedly intervened on Perez’s behalf for that very reason. Executive director Helmut Marko has denied that external influences were at play.

Perez has scored 28 points in the last eight races, but has shown some signs of slight promise recently. He produced a commendable recovery drive in Hungary to climb from 16th to seventh, though a Q1 crash created the challenge in the first place.

In Belgium, it was the other way round. The 34-year-old qualified well – 2nd was his best starting spot since China, albeit with the aid of Max Verstappen’s penalty – but fell back to P7 in the race.

Sergio Perez could revert to earlier RB20 without upgrades

Red Bull could simply bank on Perez delivering his Budapest race form or Spa qualifying form on a more consistent basis. But the evidence of recent months suggests a more drastic change may be needed.

And that’s why, according to ESPN, the world champions are ‘considering’ reverting back to a car spec ‘from the early part of the year’. That, in essence, would mean taking upgrades off his RB20.

Sky Sports F1 analyst Ted Kravitz says rivals have outdeveloped Red Bull in 2024. There’s a school of thought that they’ve made the car more difficult to drive, rather than faster.

Perez seemed to be comfortable in March and April, notching four podiums in five races. The caveat there, though, is that the team enjoyed a much larger advantage over the field, who soon wiped it out with upgrades of their own.

Perez shares when he could retire from Formula 1

Even if Perez makes it to the end of the year – and that remains a decently-sized ‘if’ – the pressure will continue. His new contract was anything but a vote of confidence, as it turns out, with multiple break clauses built into it.

It’s very rare for a driver to sign an extension and then immediately come under intense scrutiny, but that’s largely an issue of Perez’s own making. His new deal nominally runs for two years, but he’d have to persuade Red Bull to trigger the optional second season.

This is bound to be taking its toll. He certainly isn’t the first driver to struggle with the burden of partnering Verstappen, though he has lasted much longer than Pierre Gasly and Alex Albon.

Speaking in a recent interview, Perez hinted that he could retire from F1 in 2026. It remains to be seen whether he bows out in Red Bull colours, or has to drop into the midfield.