Christian Horner stopped short on Sunday of saying that Sergio Perez's days are numbered, but the Red Bull team boss admitted after the Mexico City Grand Prix that “difficult decisions have to be made” regarding the Mexican's future.
After slumping out of Q1 on Saturday and suffering a false start penalty on race day, followed by a miserable afternoon of racing at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, Perez's home race was anything but a celebration of the local hero's homecoming.
Perez's inability to carry himself into the top ten, coupled with a double-dose of ten-second penalties levied upon his teammate Max Verstappen, bumped Red Bull down to third in F1's Constructors' standings with four races to go.
For Horner, there was no denying on Sunday evening the painful reality of Perez's costly shortfall.
"Checo, again, you have had a horrible weekend. Nothing has gone right for him. He knows F1 is a results-based business," said the Red Bull main team.
"Inevitably, when you're not delivering, then the spotlight is firmly on you.
"It [the scrutiny] is constant. It's always there. From a team's perspective, we are working with him as hard as we can to try and support him."
When pressed about Perez's future with the team, the Briton did not confirm whether he would even see out the rest of the season.
“Look, as I just said, that scrutiny is always going to be there,” he added.
“There comes a point in time that difficult decisions have to be made. We're now third in the constructors' championship.
“Our determination is to try and get back into a winning position, but it's going to be a tall order over these next four races.
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“As a team we need to have both cars scoring points. That is the nature of Formula 1.
“We've done everything that we can, and we'll continue to do so in Brazil next weekend, but there comes a point in time that you can only do so much.”
As for Perez, the six-time Grand Prix winner was asked by Sky Sports F1 if he was worried that he had possibly competed in his final Mexican Grand Prix.
“Zero,” I responded. “I'll be here next year. And I will try to go for the victory because that is my dream."
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