Red Bull to wait until F1 summer break to address Perez's future

Red Bull motorsport boss Helmut Marko says Red Bull Racing likely won't address Sergio Perez's future until Formula 1's summer break at the start of August.

Perez signed a one-year contract with the Milton Keynes-based outfit at the end of last year after Red Bull sought to replace Alex Albon who had failed to fulfill the team's expectations.

But Perez has struggled so far this season to make a lasting impression on his new team, with the Mexican yet to secure a podium and race on apar with teammate Max Verstappen.

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has cut Perez some slack, insisting his driver's performance level is "getting there".

But both Horner and Marko admit that in the interim, Perez's pace in qualifying hasn't been good enough and has penalized the team on Sundays as the Mexican hasn't been able to take points away from Mercedes' chargers.

©RedBull

However, Marko made clear that it was currently too early for Red Bull to start thinking about its line-up for 2022.

"We'll start thinking about it in the summer at the earliest," Marko told German website Formel1.de.

"We are a very sought-after partner on the driver market. I don't think a driver will enter into negotiations or a deal with any other team until he has tried to come to an agreement with us.

"We are now fully focused on the world championship, and we don't see any problem there in terms of who will be Max Verstappen's teammate next year.

"It will certainly be a competitive guy. But there is still time."

• Read also: Perez riding 'big boost' into Baku race weekend

Should Red Bull dismiss Perez's candidature for 2022, AlphaTauri's Pierre Gasly remains a viable option as a replacement. But Marko wouldn't elaborate on whether the Frenchman would be awarded a second chance with RBR.

"If I have it right in my head, Gasly's contract runs for another two years," said the Austrian.

"It's a contract that lets us place him in both Red Bull and AlphaTauri. The same thing applies here: we're not thinking about the [2022] drivers at the moment.

"We'll think it through during the summer break and then make our decisions."

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