Sergio Perez Given Less Than 20 Days to Prove Worthiness of Red Bull Hot Seat

Sergio Perez reportedly has two efficiency clauses within the new Crimson Bull contract he signed earlier this season, whose non-fulfillment would give the workforce each proper to terminate his deal. Now, addressing the identical, Helmut Marko has given Perez a deadline of lower than 20 days to try to save his place on the Milton-Keynes-based outfit.

The primary clause in Perez’s contract permits Crimson Bull to switch him if he’s over 100 factors behind Max Verstappen. The second clause in the meantime, requires him to be inside 5 locations of the Dutchman within the Drivers’ Standings. At present, Perez is 137 factors in need of his goal and is in P6 whereas Verstappen is in P1 within the desk.

Chatting with GrandPrix 247 in a latest interview, Marko opined on these clauses added to Perez’s contract. The 81-year-old confirmed that Perez is beneath risk and that they’d assess his state of affairs as soon as the summer season break begins.

“All System 1 contracts have exit clauses, most of them associated to efficiency or let’s say for the highest drivers. As I discussed earlier than, we could have an analysis in the course of the summer season break after which we’ll decide.”

Perez can’t afford to slide up anymore. His hunch in kind has been worse than witnessed in 2023, and Crimson Bull can’t ask Verstappen to defend the Constructors’ Title anymore single-handedly. In case Perez does get sacked, Crimson Bull has a prepared substitute in Liam Lawson, gearing as much as notice his F1 dream.

Marko addresses the potential of Lawson changing Perez

Lawson left a long-lasting impression on the F1 paddock when he stuffed in as Daniel Ricciardo‘s substitute for 5 races in 2023. With Perez’s underperformances, Lawson turns into the favourite to get a V-CARB seat (Crimson Bull’s sister workforce). In the meantime, Ricciardo is poised to switch Perez at Crimson Bull.

Nevertheless, the workforce has different drivers to think about.

Lawson is likely one of the stars within the combine to get a Crimson Bull seat immediately, which might maintain Ricciardo at V-CARB in the intervening time. The thought of pairing Lawson up with Verstappen has been interesting to the Crimson Bull bosses. That is additionally why the New Zealander acquired behind the wheel of the RB20 in Silverstone for a take a look at on Thursday.

Crimson Bull will be capable to analyze the state of affairs a lot better when the outcomes of Lawson’s take a look at are graded. For now, Perez is on skinny ice and has two races (Hungary and Belgium) to show his price to the workforce.