Red Bull will have to “do something with Sergio Perez now”, Robert Doornbos says the “Verstappen family” bears some responsibility for the Red Bull driver’s situation.
Coming off the intense and silly F1 season and rumours that Carlos Sainz could team up with Max Verstappen again, Red Bull has given Perez a new two-year contract following the Monaco Grand Prix.
The timing of this was questioned amid Perez’s most recent crisis.
Although the new deal was intended to give him peace of mind to focus on the action on the track, Perez has not finished on the podium in the last seven races and on Sunday at Silverstone finished a mediocre 17th at the finish line.
Red Bull team boss Christian Horner admits it is “unsustainable” for Perez to continue to fail in major trouble as Red Bull faces a two-driver challenge from McLaren with Mercedes and Ferrari also in the mix.
The team relies heavily on Verstappen, who, with his P2 at the British Grand Prix, only extended his lead in the Drivers’ Championship to 84 points, but also helped Red Bull put a little more distance between him and Ferrari, second place.
Doornbos believes the team wants to perform, and now, with Liam Lawson waiting in the wings.
“Liam Lawson is testing this car, Max and Checo’s car, the RB20, on this very track. You have to put it in, you have to do anything now,” the former F1 driver told Ziggo Sport.
“You have no more excuses. Knowledge does not lie.
“It’s a very complicated scenario for Red Bull because they’ve let it get worse for too long. “
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Doornbos believes Red Bull was too quick to sign Perez again, partly because Verstappen’s team was looking for the Mexican driver in the car.
Perez joined Red Bull in 2021 and Verstappen praised his teammate’s efforts in the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Since then, despite some name dreams at the start of the season, Pérez has been an intelligent winger for the Dutch driver.
“I just feel the pain of this guy [Perez]. He made sure it was fast, also because Verstappen’s family was looking for him,” he added.
“They were looking for Pérez to simply signal and get away from all those distractions with Carlos Sainz and everyone who was hiding in that seat. “
PlanetF1. com showed over the British Grand Prix weekend that Red Bull could make a mid-season driver replacement with clauses in Perez and Daniel Ricciardo’s contracts opening the door to such a replacement.
Sources close to the matter have warned that Ricciardo’s recent upturn in form, coupled with Perez’s difficulties, may mean Red Bull swaps driving forces. And if they do, the terms of Perez’s contract would likely make him a free agent on the driver market by 2025.
The other alleged clause states that Red Bull can upgrade Perez during the summer break if he is more than a hundred points behind Verstappen after the Belgium Grand Prix.
Today, Pérez has 137 differences with respect to his teammate.
According to De Telegraaf, Horner and Perez had long conversations before the British Grand Prix weekend with the Mexican driver, who told him he needed to work harder to keep his seat.
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