Sergio Perez’s time at Red Bull appears to be coming to an end – despite his 2024 contract.
Speaking on Red Bull-owned television show Servus this week, F1 legend Gerhard Berger made it clear that Mexican Pérez’s future with the team is highly uncertain.
Because of all this talk about how long it will take for Red Bull to part ways with Perez, what I say is:
Pérez must leave Red Bull, the Austrian said.
Berger compares it to his own past with the great Ayrton Senna at McLaren.
“I had no other choice,” he said of his own departure. Perez needs a team where he can thrive again. You need a teammate you can beat.
Perez won’t be able to do it alongside Max Verstappen, Berger added. It will only get weaker as errors increase.
Interestingly, when asked about Berger’s comments, Red Bull’s acting advisor Dr. Helmut Marko also agreed with that view. “You don’t want to hear an answer from me about this right before the Mexican GP,” the 80-year-old told Osterreich newspaper.
But Berger knows this well from his own experience. He was in the same team as Senna and had to know that there was someone there who was faster and better.
However, Marko said Red Bull supports Perez’s bid to stay second in the drivers’ standings, although he was negative on whether Verstappen could help the Mexican in that quest.
The Austrian says Checo just needs to take full advantage of it without looking at Verstappen. We try to help him with that.
You see, there was no criticism from the team, only support. Maybe it will work.
But Marko said the upcoming Austin-Mexico-Brazil trio is bad timing for Perez.
The home race didn’t make it any easier for him, he said. And now there’s a sprint in the United States – exactly what he doesn’t need right now. It always takes time to update.
However, Marko insists his personal relationship with Perez remains good – despite the recent controversy surrounding his “South American” comments.
Very good, he said. He was extremely supportive of me, as was Max, who expressed his views strongly to a number of people. You have to remember that I brought Perez into the team. But that is simply the fate Verstappen is suffering. This was the case with (Pierre) Gasly.
Here’s why Gerhard’s assessment is correct: Perez needs an atmosphere and change in the team. Let’s see how the next two races go, but he and his teammates are aware that this is a crisis. (GMMM
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