Sergio Perez is in a fight to hold onto his Red Bull seat but while some have already ruled him out, securing his spot for 2025 is possible.
Of the 20 drivers on the 2024 grid, it is Perez who is under maximum pressure. Team-mate Max Verstappen’s overall dominance last season and a series of serious mistakes by the Mexican have led many to wonder if it’s just a matter of when. You will lose your seat.
But letters from Red Bull recommend that the driver, who turns 34 today, at least struggles to keep his job and if he fixes a few things he will remain a strong candidate for the job.
Fix his qualifying form
If Perez were to write a to-do list, the grade would be at the top, capitalized and underlined.
Although his race form isn’t too bad in 2023, it was in qualifying that Checo was disappointed.
His average starting position is ninth (Verstappen’s third), which, given that he owned one of the two fastest cars, is well below his starting point.
It also left him a mountain to climb in almost each and every race, which he did frequently, to his credit. 15th place in Austria moved to third, the same starting position at Silverstone moved to sixth. Even his 20th place in Qatar allowed him to score points.
But even to race Verstappen, you have to give yourself the best chance to do so and, starting from 10 positions, the Dutchman made it an almost unlikely challenge for Perez.
A streak of five consecutive absences in Q3 is not the kind of records Red Bull was looking to set and with a grid looking more competitive this season, Perez is keen to be stronger in qualifying.
Accept your on the team
It can be tough for any racing driver to swallow their pride but when you are alongside a generational talent, that is simply something you have to do.
In Perez’s first season at Red Bull, he settled for playing as a winger for Verstappen, adding to the delay of Lewis Hamilton in Abu Dhabi, but in 2022 he attempted to establish himself as a contender in his own right.
A Monaco qualifying crash, which if you believe some quarters was deliberate, appeared to spill some bad blood between the two, repaid by Verstappen in Sao Paulo, and even in the 2023 season, Perez was not always willing to move over for his team-mate.
But if Perez wants to keep his seat in 2025, he’ll have to settle for the hierarchy. Verstappen is a three-time world champion with age on his side. The highest-paid driver on the grid and the future of the team. Red Bull may say they are tied between the two, but the last thing the team needs to do is disappoint their valuable asset.
Perez then has a choice: keep fighting and lose the seat or settle for the second driver position and live until race day.
Let’s Make Mistakes
Although we caution that Perez’s overall race was better than his qualifying, that doesn’t mean he’s error-free.
At Suzuka, it looked like he was on an individual project to take on as many consequences as imaginable and the embarrassing return from the pits to serve a penalty was the best example of how Perez can have the biggest of rest days.
No one is asking for a better season, but Perez wishes his mistakes were much rarer.
F1 2023: Qualifying stats and head-to-head races between teammates
F1 Driver of the Day: Who will be the prize in F1 2023?
Get out of your own head
Perez seems a driver more affected by emotion than most and his run of qualifying issues would suggest he sometimes gets in his own head.
Self-criticism is not a bad thing, however, there may come a time when it becomes too strong and affects your driving.
Perez is not a rookie either so when the going gets tough, he needs to remind himself that he is a seasoned veteran with wins and podiums under his belt. Everyone knows he is a good driver, he just needs to believe that more himself.
I hope Daniel Ricciardo doesn’t soften the season.
The last one is less in Perez’s control but just as important for Daniel Ricciardo is very much seen as the next in line for that Red Bull seat.
2023 was intended to be the Australian’s audition, but his damaged hand meant 2024 will be the time for him to prove if he still retains what made him an eight-time race winner.
To do that, he needs to have a good season at VCARB and the minimum goal should be to beat Yuki Tsunoda but Perez needs to hope the Australian does not have a blistering start to the season or the pressure will be ramped up another notch.
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