The sun does not seem to rise for Sergio Pérez. The Mexican Red Bull driver faced his third exit in Q1 of the season after struggling in a very rainy session at Silverstone.
Driving on softs following a lap for everyone on inters at the start of Q1, Pérez spun off at Copse in tricky conditions, beaching the Red Bull #11 in the gravel, which caused a red flag. He’ll start P19 later today.
His future with Red Bull has been the center of speculation in the paddock. Even though the Austrian-owned team confirmed the 34-year-old’s continuity for the next two seasons in June, Perez dreadful run of form of two DNF’s, two P8 finishes and one seventh position over the last five Grands Prix is putting him in danger.
He has scored 15 points in comparison to Verstappen’s 101 since the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, with the Dutchman
Now with Horner putting the pressure on him to perform, and McLaren’s CEO Zak Brown stating Perez form will either open or close the door for McLaren to fight for the Constructors’ Championship, there is a performance clause in Perez’s contract could open the door for Daniel Ricciardo to take the Red Bull seat as early as this season should the Mexican fail to improve. Saturday did not help his case.
Liam Lawson is running at Silverstone next week in the RB20 as Red Bull use one of their two filming days. It’s believed the Kiwi would slot into the VCARB seat, with Ricciardo moving up to the main team if Pérez is booted.
It has all the hallmarks of last year when Daniel Ricciardo impressed Christian Horner and Co. in a Pirelli test at Silverstone, leading to Nyck de Vries getting the boot at AlphaTauri.
In his post-qualifying media debrief, the 6-time race winner expressed, when asked, that the drivers market’s noise in the category pinnacle of motorsport does not live on his mind.
“No, no, no, that has nothing to do with it, I’m fully focused on my job, I’m fully focused on getting the performance out of myself, the form that I know where I can be.”
Perez denied having had talks with either Horner or Marko about the situation: “No, nothing about it,” he said. “I have a contract and I’m fully focused on my job which is to deliver tomorrow, so I don’t have to think on anything else, the most concerned about it is myself, so I want to get back to my form as early as possible and just fully focus on my form.”
The Mexican assured he’s confident in his future in the World Champion team from Milton Keynes.
“Yes of course, like I say, I’m fully committed to the team, I’m fully committed to my career, I have a contract with the team and I will turn things around.
“It’s not something that distracts me or anything like that, it’s something that is done and dusted and I just want to get back to my form and focus on the important things.”
“Yesterday we had a very positive day, things were looking in the right direction, so yeah, head down and it’s a matter of time before we turn around the situation.”
The other name in the mix of the speculation surrounding one of Red Bull’s seats, Daniel Ricciardo, was asked about it.
“I would never make any predictions in this sport,” He said when asked about his future.
“I feel like every year that this sport goes on, it kind of goes in the trend of the sport is getting bigger. It’s becoming more Hollywood, so to speak, in terms of the profile the sport has. And also the narrative that runs with the sport now is certainly more Hollywood in terms of it’s so unpredictable.
“So do I have any proof that I’ll be anywhere else? I do not. And yeah, crazy things happen, but I’m certainly not in a place to say that or think that or predict that. So try and keep doing my thing.”
