Why Red Bull engineers apologised to Sergio Perez before Singapore Grand Prix

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Sergio Perez seems to have recovered his confidence at Red Bull. Having almost lost his seat during the summer break, he’s now offering his supporters cause for optimism.

Perez started the season in solid fashion. While he couldn’t get close to Max Verstappen, he delivered three second-place finishes and four podiums in the first five races, as well as two front-row lockouts.

But then Red Bull’s rivals made rather sudden gains. Where previously he could afford to be considerably slower than Verstappen and still finish P2, he was now bumped down the order.

From Imola until Silverstone, Perez’s form spiralled. He only scored 15 points across seven those seven rounds, including a Sprint weekend in Austria.

Christian Horner and co. considered sacking him at that point, just a month or so after he’d signed a new contract. But he’s now found some stability.

While Perez still hasn’t finished any higher than sixth in the last five races, his performances are now more in line with Red Bull’s expectations. He outqualified Verstappen for the first time this season in Baku and was on course to end his podium drought before a late collision with Carlos Sainz.

Red Bull engineers recognise that Sergio Perez may have been right about the RB20

Verstappen is now starting to complain the issues that Perez has reported all season. And this has vindicated the 34-year-old.

Speaking to The Race ahead of the Singapore GP, Perez revealed that some Red Bull engineers had approached him to offer an apology at the start of the month. They now understand what he was talking about.

Perez is relieved that, in his eyes, critics can no longer question his ‘focus’. He says the reigning world champions are now trying to address the root of their handling problems.

Red Bull scrapped a special livery for Singapore in the interests of saving weight. It would only have added an extra kilogram, the equivalent of around 0.003 seconds per lap.

“To be fair, some of the engineers after Monza came to me and apologise, in a way, because now it’s a lot clearer [what] the issues I was talking about [were],” Perez said.

“It was always the speculation around it and people saying the problem was I was not focused enough or other things. But at the end of the day, I’m just happy that we found out the problem and that we can focus on that and improve it.”

Where Red Bull stand on Sergio Perez’s future ahead of the Singapore Grand Prix

Red Bull lost the lead of the constructors’ championship after Azerbaijan, falling 20 points behind McLaren. Perez’s aforementioned horror run in the spring and early summer opened the door for the Woking outfit.

Horner previously said Perez was ‘underdelivering’, but now the team seem to be far more sympathetic. That, in turn, has improved his job security.

While his future continues to be discussed in the paddock, Perez boosted his Red Bull cause with his showing in Baku. If he can maintain that level until the end of the year, he should be safe for 2025.

Daniel Ricciardo was one of the contenders to replace Perez, but now he seems to be the most vulnerable driver on the grid. Indeed, Singapore could be Ricciardo’s last race with Liam Lawson potentially set to take over.