If something must be highlighted about Sergio Pérez, apart from his talent and ability with a steering wheel in his hands, it is his capacity for resilience. The Mexican has become an artist when it comes to getting out of the most compromising situations, which throughout his almost 14 consecutive seasons in the Formula 1 World Championship have been many. Pérez burst into Sauber like a shot (2011), from where he caught the attention of McLaren (2013), before being practically disowned from the Woking team (Great Britain), an exercise after signing him. He found shelter in Force India (2014), where he spent seven years, the last of them with ups and downs, following the shadow of the team’s dissolution. His first victory in the competition (2020), already when the team was racing under the name and funds of Racing Point, opened a halo of hope for which Red Bull practically rescued him from unemployment. After a marvelous first year (2021), in which it was a capital piece for Max Verstappen’s achievement of the title, the debate about whether the one from Guadalajara is truly worthy of driving the reference car has been covering more and more ground in a paddock where suitors multiply.
A very solid start to the season, with four podiums in the first five stops on the calendar, earned the rider from Jalisco his renewal with Red Bull until 2026. Four months after the announcement, the general perception is that only an abrupt change of The trend could keep him in the energy brand’s workshop in 2025. This summer, Checo already saved a match point against Daniel Ricciardo. But now it has been left without a network and the current situation forces the red buffalo team to make a move.
With Verstappen firing and counting his races for victories, the loss of points on the other side of the workshop was negative, but, to a certain extent, acceptable. However, with Mad Max much more rushed by the changes to the RB20, which have made it a much less manageable car than one months ago, and with the vigor with which McLaren has joined the party, competing with only one car is unsustainable for Red Bull .
No matter how much of a phenomenon Verstappen is, the more than 200 points that separate the leader of the general table from the eighth position occupied by his garage neighbor leave him defenseless. The speed difference between the two is plausible and increases with each kilometer traveled. This Sunday (10:00 p.m., Dazn), in Mexico and in front of a fan who reveres him and suffers for him, Pérez will start from the catacombs of the grid (18th), after being eliminated for the fifth time in the first round of the timed (Q1). “My feelings were very different from those in training. “I can’t brake well and that causes me to transmit too much energy to the tires,” he summarized, dejected, from the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez. Despite barely missing a ride on Friday, the Dutchman managed to get into the final eliminator (Q3), and placed second, behind a magnificent Carlos Sainz, who achieved a series of two perfect laps to take his first pole 2024. The previous one dates back to 2023, in Singapore, where on Sunday he signed a triumph of great pedigree. Fernando Alonso, for his part, will start 13th. “I know my season has been terrible. I started very well, but then it got very complicated,” Pérez reflected, from a circuit in which he has managed to get into the box on two occasions (2021 and 2022).
In the Red Bull offices, Christian Horner, the director, is running out of patience and candidates are piling up. Liam Lawson’s great role in RBas a substitute for Ricciardo, the test that Yuki Tsunoda will carry out with Red Bull in Abu Dhabi and the appearance of Franco Colapinto, who is still without a seat for 2025, do nothing more than generate noise at a time when Pérez is required to good result. “I think Checo summed it up perfectly. It’s been a bad year for him. He started off strong, but then he had trouble recovering,” agrees Horner.
