Ted Kravitz concerned by Sergio Perez radio message at Belgian Grand Prix

Follow us on Google Discover

Sergio Perez is quite simply driving for his Red Bull future at the Belgian Grand Prix this weekend. Helmut Marko has repeatedly stated that he’ll meet Christian Horner next week to make a decision.

As recently as June, Perez looked safe, not just until the end of the year, but for the whole of 2025 too. His new contract contained also an option for 2026 depending on performance.

But Red Bull didn’t envisage the spiral that would follow. Since the chequered flag fell in Miami, Perez has scored just 21 points across seven weekends – the kind of form that would only satisfy a midfield team.

This has led the team to consider activating the break clauses in his deal. Red Bull can apparently buy Perez out for £3.9m, about half the cost of losing out on the constructors’ championship.

After a one-two in Hungary, McLaren have closed the gap to just 51 points. Max Verstappen is single-handedly responsible for 65.8% of his team’s haul.

Perez produced a solid recovery drive to finish seventh in Hungary last time out after a nightmare Q1 crash. But with Verstappen taking a 10-place grid penalty for an engine component change, he must improve upon that result here.

Ted Kravitz worried by radio message from ‘struggling’ Sergio Perez

Perez was amongst the front-runners in FP1 as he set the seventh-quickest time. That put him between Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and McLaren’s Lando Norris.

But the gap to Verstappen, just under a second, was alarming, even on the longest track on the calendar. Speaking over the team radio, Perez reported that he lacked confidence coming into virtually every corner.

“I’m really struggling to know what the car is doing on entries,” he said.

“Is that mainly low speed?” his engineer asked.

“All speeds,” Perez replied. “Low speed and medium. I don’t have the feeling of what’s going on.”

Speaking during Sky Sports F1’s coverage of the session, Ted Kravitz and Karun Chandhok both aired their concerns. Everybody in the F1 paddock knows just how crucial a race this is for Perez.

“That’s not positive,” Kravitz said.

“That’s what it looked like,” Chandhok added. “He was so tentative with the wheel trying to turn in.”

Perez warned ‘it’s curtains’ if one thing happens at Belgian Grand Prix

It’s unclear whether Perez has started assessing alternative options in the background in case Red Bull do axe him. It may be wise to make a contingency plan.

One option could be to return to a former team. Sauber could drop Zhou Guanyu if Perez is available mid-season, having seen first-hand how well he can perform in F1’s midfield.

Of course, the 34-year-old will be desperate to avoid swapping championship-leading machinery for the slowest car on the grid. Audi may be arriving in 2026, but Sauber haven’t scored a single point this year.

Will Buxton says ‘it’s curtains’ for Perez if Verstappen outqualifies him despite his penalty. And based on recent evidence, that’s far likelier than it should be – remarkably, he’s started just one of the last seven races inside the top 10, a run that has included four Q1 eliminations.