Helmut Marko said he and Red Bull are “still hoping” that Sergio Perez can show his form in the next two races, before offering an update on his long career over the summer break.
Perez comes into the upcoming doubleheader under pressure after scoring 15 points in the last six races, losing 137 points to Max Verstappen in the standings, while Red Bull’s lead in the constructors’ championship is 71 points over Ferrari.
After starting the season brightly and being rewarded with a new two-year deal with Red Bull in May, Perez now faces the prospect of being challenged for his seat after his form dropped significantly, failing to appear on the podium. in the last seven. races and has not finished higher than fourth place in the last six rounds; His result at that time was a P7 position in Austria with a very broken RB20.
Perez finished the final race two laps down after a qualifying incident left him stranded in the gravel in Copse qualifying for the British Grand Prix, before a strategic bid for rain failed. It bears fruit and is taken out with intermediate tires in the dry.
Red Bull motorsport advisor Marko admitted this was far from ideal for his driver last time out.
“In qualifying we had a crisis with Sergio Perez,” Marko wrote in a column for Speedweek about the team’s performance at Silverstone.
“The situations were difficult, but he lost the car on the last lap because he has a lot of experience.
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“It’s the end of his career, because when you start from 19th on the grid, you can’t do much more. It depends on him.
“In the race the strategy was not ideal, one thing leads to another. »
As for Hungary, Marko said that the team is no longer in the dominant position of the previous season.
Red Bull will bring an update with them at the Hungaroring, and said they will try to use it to their advantage to repair their competitive advantage.
With two races left before the summer break, Marko showed that they would “evaluate the situation” at Red Bull at that time, but remain “hopeful” that Perez will do his thing in the next two rounds.
“It’s clear to hit the right temperature window, however the Red Bull is still not the fastest car at the moment and we want to correct that with the update,” he said.
“Of course it helps that the warring sides of Red Bull Racing take turns in the lead, but we can’t count on that.
“I also think Ferrari is no longer in the game and that we have to be able to recover on our own, that’s the goal.
“We still have twelve race weekends left and we can’t count on the fact that there are others behind and now also ahead of us and that we will enjoy it. “
“We also want two drivers at the front of the Constructors’ Championship and we still hope Sergio Perez will be in his form. “
“We’ll assess the scenario after the next two races and the summer break and then see what happens. “
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