Red Bull told ‘little things’ Sergio Perez must accept to rediscover form by F1 flop

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A Formula 1 flop has told Red Bull the ‘little things’ that Sergio Perez must accept for the Mexican to bounce back and prove the team were correct to keep him in the car.

Torrid results leading up to F1’s summer break saw Red Bull hold crunch talks at their factory this Monday to discuss possibly dropping Perez. But team principal Christian Horner elected to give the 34-year-old a vote of, mostly, confidence – although Perez is not fully in the clear.

Red Bull only extended Perez’s contract by two more years this June, with his deal otherwise ending after the 2024 Formula 1 season. Yet the Guadalajara native celebrated his extension by crashing in the Canadian Grand Prix and has not recovered his already questionable form.

Sergio Perez must accept he is not a title contender to recover the Red Bull driver’s form

Perez started the season largely how Red Bull needed him to with three P2 finishes and a P3 in the first five rounds. But since sealing fourth in the Miami Grand Prix, he has not finished a Grand Prix higher than P7 through the next eight – achieving P7 three times and P8 twice.

Crashing with Kevin Magnussen on the opening lap of the Monaco Grand Prix, spinning into the barriers in the Canadian Grand Prix, beaching his Red Bull in Q1 at the British Grand Prix and crashing in Q1 at the Hungarian Grand Prix has not helped Perez to justify the new deal.

But former Minardi driver Patrick Friesacher believes Perez is partly responsible for his own downfall at Red Bull. The Austrian, who is now an instructor at the Red Bull Ring, feels Perez places too much pressure on himself by dreaming about winning the Formula 1 drivers’ title.

Friesacher has told Speedweek: “Sergio puts the pressure on himself over the course of the year. He wants to win races [and] he wants to become world champion, and then he comes to the race track.

“It’s enough if a few little things don’t go right in free practice and he doesn’t feel 100 per cent comfortable in the car. As soon as he gets out of the car, he [then] gets asked the same questions over and over again by the journalists.

“Some drivers take it easier, others start to think about it and at some point, it gets stuck in the back of their minds.”

Sergio Perez may still only have four races to save his Red Bull career

Friesacher lasted just 11 Grand Prix during a short-lived Formula 1 career at Minardi in 2005. The Austrian lost the drive mid-season as his sponsors did not pay up. But his form was also underwhelming, with Friesacher only claiming points in the six-car United States Grand Prix.

Even in his final race for Minardi at the 2005 British GP, Friesacher finished four laps off the lead at Silverstone. If Perez now wants to avoid a similar fate by losing his drive for Red Bull mid-season in 2024, the Mexican needs to accept he is not a title threat to Max Verstappen.

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Perez also needs to accept the RB20 is not tuned to his driving style and adapt to Red Bull’s car if he wants to see out the season. While Horner has opted against replacing him during the summer break, Perez may only have four more races before Red Bull do opt to sack him.

Horner’s vote of confidence is more a stay of execution with Red Bull backing Perez to offer more in the four races after the summer break. The team primarily see the Azerbaijan Grand Prix and the Singapore Grand Prix as make-or-break with Perez a specialist on street tracks.