Button to Red Bull: Points for Perez in Hungary or early exit
F1 world champion Jenson Button has urged Red Bull to cut its losses and replace Sergio Perez if the Mexican fails to score points in Hungary next week.
Perez’s seat at the Milton Keynes-based outfit is more than ever under threat following another lacklustre performance at Silverstone last weekend.
A clumsy error in Q1 left Perez stranded in 19th position which compelled Red Bull to the Mexican’s car out of parc fermé to add fresh power unit elements, which equated to a pitlane start.
Starting last, Perez made very little progress in the race, ultimately finishing his British Grand Prix a lowly P17.
Red Bull team boss Christian Horner conceded that Perez’s lack of results was “unsustainable”, although he stopped short of projecting a driver change.
The pressure on Perez comes despite Red Bull recently extending the 34-year-old’s contract until the end of 2026.
However, reports allege the deal includes a performance clause allowing Red Bull to explore a driver change if Perez is more than 100 points behind Max Verstappen when F1 kicks off its summer break.
The team has said that it will review its options during F1’s summer break after the Belgian Grand Prix, but Button believes that Red Bull must make a call on Perez’s future sooner rather than later, especially if the Mexican fails to put points on the board at the Hungaroring.
“It’s a massive, massive issue,” the former Grand Prix driver told Sky F1 at Silverstone.
“This was a terrible weekend. It was unlucky in some ways as well. This isn’t going to happen every race weekend, but for McLaren to be taking this many points out of them, it’s big.
“He [Perez] needs to be scoring some points at least. Even if he’s not directly behind Max. They can’t let it go on forever.
“I think in the next race, if he’s not scoring points again – soon enough they’ve got to get him out of the car and put someone else in.
“It’s tough, I know it’s not a nice feeling for a driver, it’s horrible, but for them the championship is important.”
Addressing his current slump last weekend, Perez said that he was fully focused on the upcoming two races rather than on his contract situation.
“I know where I am in terms of contract and that sort of thing,” he said. “I cannot let it be a distraction.
“I need to focus on the next two weekends, which are the priority, and together as a team, to get out of this difficult period.”
Perez also expects his performance to improve in Hungary with the help of the new floor that his RB20 will receive and that will put him on the same specification as Max Verstappen.
“I think we’re making good progress,” he said at Silverstone.
“We are just about to unlock a couple of tenths from our side and our life will be very different, back to where we were in the start of the year.”
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