Purple Bull workforce principal Christian Horner has refused to verify if Sergio Perez will retain his seat as Max Verstappen’s team-mate sooner or later.
‘Checo’ Perez had one other difficult weekend as he was knocked out in Q1 at his residence race in Mexico, then had a false begin within the race and made contact with RB’s Liam Lawson earlier than coming residence the final of the finishers in seventeenth.
The 34-year-old, who has a contract with Purple Bull for 2025, obtained the backing of Horner throughout the summer time break to stick with the workforce however that tone seems to have modified with 4 rounds to go this season.
“Checo, again, has had a horrible weekend. Nothing has gone right for him. He knows F1 is a results-based business,” mentioned Horner.
“Inevitably, when you’re not delivering, then the spotlight is firmly on you.”
Perez is eighth within the Drivers’ Championship and Purple Bull have dropped behind Ferrari to 3rd within the constructors’ standings, after Carlos Sainz received the Mexico Metropolis Grand Prix, with Charles Leclerc in third.
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Martin Brundle shares why he believes this might have been Perez’s final Mexico Metropolis GP as a Purple Bull driver
Horner admitted there will likely be a degree when a “difficult decision” must be made.
“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,” he added.
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Perez and Oscar Piastri made shock exits in Q1 on the Mexico GP
“I think we have done everything that we can to support Checo, and we will continue to do so in Brazil. But there comes a point in time that you can only do so much.”
Requested by Sky Sports activities F1 if there have been any worries that he had competed in his final Mexico Metropolis Grand Prix, Perez mentioned: “Zero I’ll be here next year. And I will try to go for the victory because that is my dream.”
Perez: I haven’t got a relationship with Lawson
Perez made contact with Lawson on Lap 18 when the pair went aspect by aspect via Turns 4 and 5 of their battle for tenth.
The Purple Bull driver got here off worse with injury to his sidepod and ground. He struggled for tempo over the remainder of the grand prix as Lawson solely completed down in sixteenth after a later conflict with Williams’ Franco Colapinto.
“Even after the penalty I had for not starting in the box, it was looking great. I was in P10 on the hards,” Perez informed Sky Sports activities F1.
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Perez clashed with RB’s Liam Lawson within the Mexico Metropolis GP
“The coming together with Lawson was very unfortunate. I don’t get it. He went for the incident, damaging both of our races.
“Then I picked up large injury on the aspect and it was sport over.”
Discuss within the paddock in Mexico Metropolis is that Lawson may substitute Perez subsequent 12 months if he impresses at RB within the remaining races.
Lawson made a formidable return to F1 at the USA Grand Prix by scoring factors from the again of the grid, though he had a tense battle with Fernando Alonso, then with Perez and Colapinto in Mexico.
‘I haven’t got any relationship with him. I feel the best way he has come to Formulation 1, I do not assume he has the appropriate angle for it. He must be a bit extra humble,” said Perez to the written media.
“When a two-time world champion was saying issues final weekend, he utterly ignored him. It is like while you come to F1, you are clearly very hungry and so forth, however it’s important to be respectful as properly, off-track and on-track. I do not assume he is displaying the appropriate angle. I feel he is a fantastic driver and I hope for him that he can step again and study from it.
“In his first two grand prix he has had many incidents. I think there will be a point where it can cost him too much, like it did this weekend.
“I simply assume that he has to have the appropriate angle to say, ‘Look, in all probability I am overdoing it just a little bit, I’ll step again and begin once more’. As a result of if you happen to do not study out of your errors, Formulation 1 is a brutal world and he may not proceed.”
Formula 1’s Americas triple header concludes this weekend with the Sao Paulo Grand Prix, with every session live on Sky Sports F1. Stream each F1 race and extra with a NOW Sports activities Month Membership – No contract, cancel anytime
