Red Bull’s Woes Continue
At the beginning of the Mexico Grand Prix weekend expectations were high. The constructors’ championship’s three-way battle was beginning to heat up, as Ferrari had just thrown their hat into the ring with their win at the US Grand Prix the weekend prior.
Ferrari were now just 8 points away from taking second in the constructors’ championship, bumping Red Bull down to a disappointing third. Rumours continued to swell about the future of Sergio Perez and the second Red Bull seat, as Liam Lawson had just replaced Daniel Riccardo at VCARB the week prior.
It was clear that Red Bull were beginning to think more about their future, and Perez desperately needed to prove that he was deserving of the Red Bull seat. It was becoming increasingly obvious that Max Verstappen was not capable of carrying the team on his own, and that Red Bull needed a second driver who could consistently support Verstappen at the top of the field.
In an interview prior to the start of the weekend, Perez himself admitted that,
“If I had a strong result, it can definitely change my season massively in terms of personal feeling. So I’m really up for it” – Sergio Perez to BBC Sport.
With all this in mind, the Mexico Grand Prix weekend began.
Practice 1 and Practice 2 seemed to go ok for Perez, as he finished in 10th and 9th respectively.
These results seemed to promise that at the very least he would make Q3 during qualifying the next day. However, the Mexican’s disastrous weekend would begin to take shape during Practice 3 as he only finished 14th – this run of bad form would continue into qualifying.
Perez struggled with braking in the low-speed corners throughout qualifying and failed to even make it out of Q1. His lacklustre performance saw him qualify 18th, and to make matters worse, Liam Lawson had managed to out-qualify Perez, as he would be starting in 12th during the race.
On Sunday Perez came under immediate scrutiny as he was investigated for a false start. He was subsequently given a 5 second penalty, causing a significant blow to his race. Yet despite the penalty, Perez continued his fierce battle with Lawson for P10, but was ultimately defeated by the young driver, who managed to pull ahead after forcing Perez wide.
Unfortunately for him, Perez suffered damage to his car in his battle with Lawson which significantly impacted the rest of his race. During the final laps of the race, Perez was running in 17th place (the final classified position), so Red Bull decided to pit him in order to try to take the fastest lap.
However, despite his best efforts, Perez was unable to secure the fastest lap time, losing it to Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.
After yet another disappointing race weekend, Sergio Perez reflected on the race.
“I’ve been [on] the podium twice, and today I think we could have done a really good race, really good comeback, but it didn’t happen so I will try again next year” – Sergio Perez in a post race interview.
But as rumours of his future continue to circulate, one simple question remains. Will Sergio Perez still be in Formula 1 next year?
