05/08/2024
NEWS STORY
Christian Horner has confirmed that Sergio Perez will see out the season with Red Bull.
The Austrian team held talks on Monday to assess the Mexican's future, the day after Helmut Marko had appeared to give up on the driver, after he finished the Belgian Grand Prix a distant 8th (on track) despite starting from the front row.
"Sergio had the opportunity to take a good result from second place," Marko told Sky Germany. "Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. Especially in the last stint, he completely collapsed, where he set 1:48 lap times. What looked so positive in qualifying unfortunately didn't materialise in the race."
The last time Perez stood on the podium was in China, while in the nine races that followed he amassed just 46 points compared to his teammate's 167, this at a time Red Bull has come under increasing pressure in both title fights.
Back-to-back crashes in Monaco and Canada weren't helped by the fact that he failed to get beyond Q1 at both events, failing to do so again at Silverstone and the Hungaroring.
Despite having Liam Lawson, Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda waiting in the wings, Horner has given his backing to Perez.
"Checo remains a Red Bull Racing driver despite recent speculation," said the Briton, according to numerous sources, "and we look forward to seeing him perform at tracks he has previously excelled at after the summer break."
While the Mexican seeks a complete re-set for the remaining races, Ricciardo and Lawson will be taking part in a test at Imola tomorrow (Wednesday), for what some are describing as a "shoot-out", however whether this is for the RB or Red Bull seat remains to be seen.