The worrying data that makes Sergio Perez look even worse than Logan Sargeant this season

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Sergio Perez came close to losing his Red Bull seat midway through the 2024 season. Christian Horner and co. seriously considered a change during the summer break.

It was only two months prior that they’d handed him a new one-plus-one contract. But rather than potentially staying until the end of 2026, he faced an immediate axe.

Red Bull hoped Perez’s new contract would revitalise him, but his performances got worse. Between the Emilia Romagna and Belgian Grands Prix, he scored 27 points in eight races.

That sequence included as many DNFs as it did top-10 starts (two). Max Verstappen’s camp thought Daniel Ricciardo was returning to Red Bull after Spa.

However, the senior leadership felt Ricciardo hadn’t quite shown enough at RB to merit a promotion. And so Perez just about survived beyond the break.

Williams driver Logan Sargeant also made it to Zandvoort, though that would be his final outing. A heavy crash in FP3, which wrecked Williams’ upgrades, prompted James Vowles to drop him and bring in Franco Colapinto.

Sergio Perez is further from Max Verstappen than Logan Sargeant was from Alex Albon

Data gathered by Motorsport.com Netherlands show that Perez has, on average, been 0.63 seconds slower than Verstappen in qualifying this season. Only Sargeant (0.66 seconds slower than Alex Albon) and Zhou Guanyu (0.76 seconds to Valtteri Bottas) have poorer records.

And when it comes to race pace, Perez is the worst of all. His delta to Verstappen stands at +0.53 seconds, compared to +0.38s for Sargeant and Albon.

Clearly, Verstappen is a far more accomplished driver than Albon. But equally, Perez has a much stronger CV than Sargeant.

He’s a six-time race-winner with 39 podiums to his name and 278 race starts. This deficit is the biggest reason why the team are considering dropping him for Liam Lawson.

How Liam Lawson’s RB20 simulation times compare to Sergio Perez

Formula E boss Alberto Longo says F1 has been ‘tremendously unfair’ to Perez. Longo, who managed Perez in GP2, maintains that he has ‘unique talent’.

But that doesn’t change the fact that he trails Verstappen 20-1 in qualifying this year, and hasn’t beaten him in a single race where both have finished. His dismal results have arguably cost Red Bull the constructors’ title.

Lawson replaced Ricciardo at the United States GP last month and is halfway through a six-race audition for Perez’s seat. He’s delivering on track, with two points finishes already.

However, Lawson struggles relative to Perez on the simulator, according to a recent report. He may in fact be further away from Verstappen than the Mexican in the virtual environment.