For the drivers on the Formula 1 grid who have yet to sign a new contract for next season, every race, qualifying performance and practice session counts when trying to impress their current team or other manufacturers on the grid.
A third of the way through the season, some drivers are outperforming their expectations while others are falling short.
The 2025 grid is beginning to take shape, but on the Drive to Wynn Podcast, British racing driver Justin Bell has spoken about one racer who might be lucky to be in the position he currently is.
Several seats on the grid are more enticing than others right now.
Anyone offered the opportunity to drive for both Mercedes and Alpine next year is unlikely to choose the French manufacturer.
However, Red Bull currently have the most exciting opportunity in the paddock with Sergio Perez’s deal set to expire at the end of the year.
The £215,000-a-week driver is closing in on signing a new contract, but Bell isn’t sure that Perez necessarily deserves that seat.
He’s yet to be convinced that he’s doing enough against Max Verstappen in the same car to show Christian Horner and Helmut Marko that he’s the best man for the job.
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Justin Bell unsure that Sergio Perez deserves his Red Bull seat
The margins between the top teams on the Formula 1 grid appear to be narrowing at every race.
In Monaco, there were six-tenths between the top 18 cars in Q1, with only the two Sauber cars off the pace.
Unfortunately for Perez, the gap between himself and his teammate has stayed consistently around three-to-four tenths of a second at each track, so when the Dutchman could only qualify sixth, it meant that Perez was out in the first session of qualifying.
It remains to be seen if he could have clawed his way back into the points as he was involved in a huge crash with both Haas cars on the first lap.
However, that difference between Perez and Verstappen could end up costing Red Bull the Constructors’ Championship with Ferrari and McLaren so much closer to them this year.
It’s for this reason that Bell doesn’t think Perez deserves to be in his current Red Bull seat.
Unfortunately for his main competitor for that role Carlos Sainz, it’s also exactly the reason why he’s likely to be retained.
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Sergio Perez has to close the gap to Max Verstappen
Talking about the second Red Bull seat, Bell said: “I personally would love Red Bull to be offering him [Carlos Sainz] the second seat, it does seem every day that there’s a little bit more drip feeding of media content saying that Sergio Perez will be retained, even on this mediocre form.
“Maybe it does come down to the fact that he doesn’t cause Max Verstappen any grief as a teammate.
“But at the same time, he also doesn’t do him much good because with McLaren having two cars right up there, with Ferrari having two cars right up there, with Mercedes about to step into the game, you have to have two drivers performing at their best, optimising for strategy and just manufacturer points.
“And if he causes them [Red Bull] to lose manufacturer points again which he has done a few years ago, then I think Sergio just in my opinion doesn’t really deserve the seat, there are better options.”
Sergio Perez may not deserve his Red Bull seat as Bell suggests based on his outright pace, but his dynamic with Verstappen works.
We’ve yet to see a scenario this season when the Dutchman has been put in an awkward position by another team because Perez isn’t close enough to impact their strategy.
However, all it takes is for McLaren or Ferrari to have a strong weekend and leave the triple-world champion exposed.
As soon as that happens – or Red Bull lose their lead in the Constructors’ Championship – then questions may be asked about Perez’s position.
The post ‘Better options’: Justin Bell says £215k-a-week F1 star ‘doesn’t really deserve’ his current seat on the grid appeared first on F1 Oversteer.