Team Change Could Revive Sergio Perez

Sergio Perez’s immediate future at Red Bull is still on shaky ground, despite a solid recovery drive in Hungary following his Q1 crash.

After the crash, the latest in a series of mistakes and poor performances for the Mexican, the patience of bosses Christian Horner and Dr Helmut Marko appeared to have run out.

But Marko says Red Bull still plans to consider immediately replacing Perez, 34, in a crunch meeting set for after this weekend’s Belgian GP.

“Perez had a very good race,” said the team advisor. “The strategy worked well. But we are sticking to our previous approach.

“On Monday after Spa I will fly to England and discuss the procedure with Horner. Then we will see together what we are going to do.”

Perez’s solid drive at the twisty Hungaroring from P16 on the grid to P7 at the chequered flag, just two places behind Max Verstappen, at least keeps his hopes alive for now.

“He did well,” said former F1 driver Giedo van der Garde – one of Perez’s harshest critics. “He actually drove a pretty good race,” he told Viaplay.

“In terms of pace, he was also doing well. Good overtaking manoeuvres too,” the Dutchman added. “We know that he is under even more pressure now, but he had to show that he can score points, which he did.

“If he does that again next weekend, he will at least go into the summer break well enough to maybe be able to finish the rest of the season.”

Dutch commentator Olav Mol agrees, arguing that Perez was at least able to hit Red Bull’s pre-race target. “The assignment was to finish in the points, so he can tick that box,” he said on Ziggo Sport.

“If they say in advance that he has to score points and he does, you can’t say that he didn’t do well, because even George Russell was behind him.”

Crucially, Perez is not being openly criticised by his teammate Verstappen, with even Horner and Marko admitting Perez’s new 2025-2026 contract was at least in part due to their harmonious relationship.

“I support him every weekend,” Verstappen told ORF. “I answer all his questions, including about the setup. I have a very good relationship with him, that’s no problem at all.”

As for Perez’s latest Q1 crash, the Dutchman added: “I don’t think we need to go into too much detail about that. It’s just a shame for Checo, because I thought up until that point, actually, he was having quite a decent weekend.

“That’s the only thing that I want to say about that.”

If Perez is ousted, it’s very likely he could be a late game-changer on the 2025 driver market – also because of the powerful Mexican sponsors he brings with him.

“If he were sitting in a different car right now, with a different teammate,” said former F1 driver Alex Wurz, “he would be the old, normal Checo again, who is really, really good on some days.”