Helmut Marko gives final update on deciding Sergio Perez’s Red Bull future

After giving a myriad of chances to Sergio Perez, Helmut Marko has stated that Red Bull will soon decide on the Mexican's future.

Helmut Marko gives final update on deciding Sergio Perez’s Red Bull future

Sergio Perez and Helmut Marko (via Planetf1)

Red Bull‘s patience has seemingly finally been broken by Sergio Perez. The 34-year-old has had a torrid run of races since his podium finish in China, ultimately leading to the Austrian giant losing two places in the constructors’ standings.

With two rounds two spare, Helmut Marko, senior advisor and the head of driver development, revealed that Sergio Perez‘s seat at the Milton Keynes-based team will be re-evaluated after the final race in Abu Dhabi. The Mexican joined Red Bull in 2021 and looked to have ended the Austrian giant’s long run of second driver problems.

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Perez provided stability while remaining consistent. However, mid-way through the 2023 season, he hit a cliff in performance and has not been able to recover from it since then.

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Max Verstappen has scored 403 points in the 22 races this season while Perez has only been able to score 152 points in the same machinery. This has caused the paddock to raise eyebrows over how Red Bull, who are notoriously famous for their lack of patience, tolerate Perez’s subpar results.

However, Red Bull’s hierarchy is finally ready to consider dropping Perez next season. Helmut Marko gave an insight into the timeline that the team would announce its decision over the 34-year-old’s future.

There will be a meeting after Abu Dhabi and the result of this meeting will be presented to the shareholders and they will then decide what the driver situation for both teams will look like for next year.

Helmut Marko said in an interview with ORF

A sour taste might develop within the staff at Milton Keynes if Perez stays for the 2025 season, as his underperformance would be the major reason why they would not receive their championship bonuses. Such intra-team pressure would also not aid his case to stay at Red Bull.

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Sergio Perez reflected on his Las Vegas GP amidst an ultimatum by Red Bull

Last year, Sergio Perez finished on the podium at the Las Vegas GP alongside his teammate and was close to Max Verstappen throughout the race. This year, he finished P10 in a race where his teammate sealed his fourth drivers’ championship and took the chequered flag inside the top five despite battling the woeful RB20.

Red Bull's Sergio Perez (via LWOS)
Red Bull’s Sergio Perez (via LWOS)

Despite the significant performance gap, Perez touched upon the multiple positives from his race in the US. He said that Qatar could mark a turning point in terms of performances.

I have good confidence overtake and I think we’re close to turning things around. I think we were competitive all weekend, every race session we did, we were competitive. The issue was always over one lap, we didn’t get everything out of the tyres, hopefully in a little bit more normal race, like Qatar, we can be back.

Sergio Perez said
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Sergio Perez’s stay at Red Bull does not appear to stretch into the 2025 season. This could result in him losing his seat on the F1 grid as there are no openings in any other team.