Sergio Perez’s tenure with the dominant Red Bull team could potentially extend into 2025 if he continues to secure finishes just behind Max Verstappen. Amid speculation that Perez might find it challenging to prove he’s close enough to Verstappen’s caliber to warrant a new deal, Dr. Helmut Marko has surprisingly commended Perez’s efforts during the opening weekend of the 2024 season in Bahrain.
“Checo drove a very good race,” Marko told Speed Week, acknowledging the challenges Perez faced but ultimately overcame. “It took him a while to get past the Mercedes and Ferrari, but after that he optimised it. Trying more than he did would have been pointless. Second place behind Max was all he could achieve.”
Despite Perez’s efforts, the gap in performance between him and Verstappen was significant, with Marko noting, “For Max to set the fastest race lap at the same time with the same car and the same tyres as Perez, and be two seconds faster, was a show of strength of the first order.”
Marko also added perspective on Perez’s situation within the team, stating, “But he has Verstappen as a teammate, so not being destroyed by him is already a great achievement. If Max had not been there, it would have been an interesting race.”
Gunther Steiner, the former Haas boss, provided his insight, suggesting that Perez’s position at Red Bull for the next year looks promising. “Sergio is still there now, so maybe he’ll stay,” he commented to Bild newspaper, hinting at the dynamic and often unpredictable nature of F1’s driver market.
“Sergio is still there now, so maybe he’ll stay,” Steiner mused, indicating the contingent nature of Perez’s future. “He could be released, that’s true. But I believe that the real action on the driver market will only really begin once Mercedes has found their new driver. Then every driver will be trying to get the next best cockpit.”
Jeroen Bleekemolen and Christijan Albers, both former racing drivers, offered their views on Perez’s performance, emphasizing the competitive gap between him and Verstappen. “Let’s say that he’s not a bad driver,” Bleekemolen told NOS. “It’s just that Max is so much better than the rest. Perez has the best car so he should actually be coming second, but they’re definitely not going to fire him if he finishes second in the championship.”
Albers also weighed in on the qualifications gap, stating to De Telegraaf, “If you look at qualifying, we’re talking about an almost four tenths gap. Yes, ok, mistake here, mistake there. But if you look at other teams, the difference was only a couple of tenths.”
