Sergio Perez’s Red Bull career haul now ends at five wins, three poles and 932 points. That he only added to the last of those three categories in the 2024 Formula 1 season is one of three key reasons why he’s finally been cast off as Max Verstappen’s team-mate.
The other two are firstly how it’s thanks to Perez bringing in just 35% of the world champion’s points total that Red Bull lost the 2024 constructors’ crown. And that things just didn’t have any hope of recovering.
Because Red Bull tried both carrot and stick – each supplied separately by the public support of team boss Christian Horner and the equally open slamming of company motorsport advisor Helmut Marko.
By his home race in Mexico, it’d become obvious from the private messages of Red Bull insiders that the heap of goodwill Perez had built in the way he’d defended on Verstappen’s behalf against Lewis Hamilton late in the 2021 campaign had finally been exhausted.
He’d survived the summer decision on keeping him and Daniel Ricciardo in their respective places. Now both and are gone. And, for Perez, there’s a season-long trail of moments where he should’ve done better and that explain why he’s now been ditched.
1 Not winning when Verstappen exited in Australia
Perez failed to pick up the victory in Australia after Verstappen suffered a reliability problem
Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images
Although Ferrari looked like the team to beat over a race stint in Melbourne, Red Bull started on pole and looked threatening with Verstappen – three races into the part of the season where the team remained as dominant as in 2023.
But the Dutchman’s brake fire there meant he retired early on, with Carlos Sainz moving serenely on to win, with the only interest in the rest of the podium places coming from the battle between his Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc and the McLaren drivers.
Perez, with an RB20 that should’ve been a victory contender, was absent. This was after he’d impeded Nico Hulkenberg early in a qualifying that should’ve netted third on the grid.
He railed and was hampered by getting a visor tearoff stuck in his underfloor on his way to fifth. But this result highlighted how Perez should always be there to pick up the pieces when Verstappen is struck by misfortune for Red Bull. And had he started higher he might’ve avoided his race downforce loss.
2 Losing out to Norris in China
A podium, but not the 1-2…
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