Ex-F1 driver Johnny Herbert says Sergio Perez should be feeling “worried” and “uncomfortable” about his longer-term future with Red Bull given his performance deficit to teammate and championship leader Max Verstappen.
After trading wins with Verstappen in the first four races of the season, Perez’ titles hopes eventually vanished in a series of poor displays and errors.
Half-way through F1's 2023 campaign, the Mexican remains second in the Drivers' standings but a whopping 125 points behind Verstappen, while Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton are 40 and 41 points respectively adrift from Perez.
The Mexican driver is contracted to Red Bull until the end of 2025 and team boss Christian Horner has already dismissed suggestions that the Milton Keynes-based outfit could part ways with Perez at the end of the current season.
But Herbert believes the gap between Verstappen and Perez is unlikely to narrow next season, which could challenge the team’s supremacy in F1’s Constructors’ standings once its rivals get their act together.
“It’s alarming, you don’t want to be that far away from your teammate for sure,” Herbert told sports betting website OLBG alluding to Perez’s nearly one second deficit to Verstappen on average in qualifying.
“Verstappen is very happy with the situation because he’s not under pressure or being challenged in any way, but Red Bull know they’ll need someone that will be consistently at the top when the other teams get more competitive.
“If I was Perez, I’d be worried and very uncomfortable.”
“He might think he’s done a good job in qualifying and they put the screen in front of you and you think ‘oh, god I’m still miles off – what do I need to do?’
“We’re halfway through the season and he’s still not able to find that extra speed, there may be certain races when he can, but he can’t find the consistency like Verstappen.
“Only Perez can turn things around.”
Should the Mexican continue to drastically underperform, Herbert believes Red Bull should target McLaren’s Lando Norris as his replacement, a view shared by many pundits in the F1 paddock.
However, Norris is set to remain at Woking until the end of 2025, which theoretically rules out a move away from McLaren before that term.
“Who do you replace Perez with? They could look at Lando Norris – I don’t know if he can get out of his contract or if there’s a performance clause,” argued Herbert.
“I don’t see why Charles Leclerc or Carlos Sainz would like to leave Ferrari, I know there are some frustrations but there’s a big risk factor to consider when it comes to joining Red Bull because Verstappen is there, he’s not an easy person to go up against.”
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